APR    7    1904      *j 


BR  121 

C7513  1903 

3. 

Cremer , 

Hermann,  1834- 

-190 

A  reply 

to  Harnack  on 

the 

essence  of  Christianity 

A    REPLY    TO    HARNACK 


ON 


The    Essence    of    Christianity 


HERMANN    CREMER 


A  REPLY  TO  HARNACK 

ON 

The  Essence  of  Christianity 


Lcäures  '■'Delivered  in  the  Summer  of  igoi 
"Before  Students  of  all  Faculties  in  the 
University  of  Greifswald 


BY 

Hermann   Cremer,    D.D.,   LL.D. 

Ordinary  Professor  of  Theology 


Translated  front   the    Third  German   Edition 

BY 

Bernhard    Pick,    Ph.D.,    D.D. 

Author  of  ''The  Extra-Canonical  Life  of  Christ,''  etc. 


FUNK    &   WAGNALLS    COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  AND  LONDON 
1903 


Copyright,  1903,  by 

FUNK    &    WAGNAI.I.S    COMPANY 

[Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America] 

Published  in  June,  1903 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Translator's  Preface vii 

Author's  Preface xi 

I.     Which   Christianity? i 

II.     The  Apostolic  Message 19 

III.  The  Record  of  Christ  According  to  the  Synoptic 

Account        37 

IV.  The  Johannean  Account        62 

V.     Critical  Considerations 76 

VI.     Anti-Critique 102 

VII.     Faith  and  History 116 

VIII.     The  Person  of  Christ 146 

IX.     Appearance  of  Jesus  and  Reception  in  Israel     .  170 

X.     The  Miracle-Ministry  of  Jesus 192 

XI.     The     Work    of    Jesus  ;    or,     His    Suffering    and 

Death,   His  Resurrection  and  Ascension     .      .  212 

XII.     The  Essence  of  Christianity 252 


TRANSLATOR'S   PREFACE 


^T^  HK  author   of  these  ledlures,  Hermann  Cremer 
*-    I        (born   1834),  is  well  known  to  theological 

^M]  students  by  his  ''Biblisch-Theologisches 
Wörterbuch  der  neutestamentlichen  Grä- 
cität "  (Gotha,  1866;  9th  edition,  1902;  English 
translation  by  W.  Urwick  :  "  Biblico-Theological 
Lexicon  of  New  Testament  Greek,"  Edinburgh,  1872; 
3d  edition,  1886).  His  theological  standpoint  is 
expressed  in  the  dedication  of  these  ledlures  to  Pastor 
F.  von  Bodelschwingh,  D.D.,  in  Bethel,  near  Biele- 
feld, the  promoter  and  founder  of  many  institutions 
connecfted  with  the  Inner  Mission:  "To  thee,  my 
dear  brother,  this  work  is  dedicated  to  attest  that  one 
can  only  minister  unto  the  poor  and  the  wretched, 
unto  the  children  and  the  aged,  unto  the  sick  and 
dying,  and  therefore  only  unto  those  that  are  whole, 
by  representing  before  their  eyes  the  Christ  of  the 
Bible,  the  Christ  of  the  apostolic  preaching,  the  Christ 
who  came  down  from  heaven  and  took  upon  Him  our 
flesh  and  blood  to  die  for  us  and  to  live  for  and  with 
us.  May  one  better  understand  the  'other  Christ,' 
but  one  can  only  believe  in  that  Christ  in  whom  the 
children  also  believe. ' ' 

Strange  to  say,  Cremer' s  ledlures  have  the  same 
title  as  Harnack's,  but  here  it  is  true:  "Duo  cum 
faciunt  idem  non  est  idem,"  and  the  fadl  that  Cremer's 
lec5lures  were   issued   within   four  months    in    three 

vii 


TRANSLATOR'S    PREFACE 


editions  shows  that  not  all  are  prepared  to  accept 
Harnack's  definition  of  Christianity  with  his  "other 
Christ." 

At  the  end  of  these  lecflures  Cremer  refers  to  a  sen- 
tence of  Harnack  which  is  charadleristic  of  the  present 
situation  :  ' '  How  often  in  history  is  theology  only  the 
means  to  set  aside  religion."  At  the  end  of  the  eigh- 
teenth century  and  beginning  of  the  nineteenth,  ration- 
alism had  full  sway  in  Germany.  The  high  seats  of 
Protestant  theology  were  occupied  by  rationalists, 
whose  aim  was  to  unfit  the  theological  students  for  the 
ministry.  What  did  rationalism  accomplish?  Let  us 
hear  one  of  these  teachers,  Chr.  F.  Ammon,  of  Göttingen 
(died  1 850) .  In  a  sermon  which  he  delivered  on  January 
I,  1 80 1,  he  said:  ''Not  enough  that  the  temples  are 
deserted;  not  enough  that  the  Divine  usages  and  rites, 
with  which  men  as  sensual  beings  will  never  be  wholly 
able  to  dispense,  have  more  than  ever  been  lost  out  of 
the  general  interest  ;  not  enough,  finally,  that  the 
churchly  public  spirit  of  the  Christians,  which  once 
opposed  hosts  and  overcame  the  forces  of  the  most 
powerful  states,  have  almost  disappeared  ;  even  the 
beUef  in  the  most  essential  truths  of  religion  has  lost 
for  ver3^  many  its  certainty  and  power;  skepticism  and 
indifference  have  taken  its  place;  the  spirit  of  devotion 
and  of  prayer,  yea,  even  th-e  idea  of  God  and  a  future 
world,  have  become  strange  to  whole  families  and  to 
whole  societies,  and  the  present  sensual  disposition  of 
mind  need  only  to  last  yet  a  decade  in  order  to  turn 
over  the  entire  future  generation  to  the  nameless 
misery  which  is  inseparable  from  a  ruling  unbelief  in 
religion. ' ' 


Vlll 


TRANSLATOR'S    PREFACE 


The  man  who  thus  spoke  was  no  pietist  and  no  ad- 
vocate of  orthodoxy.  He  is  afraid  of  the  seven 
other  spirits  more  wicked  than  the  one  which  rational- 
ism has  cast  out.  Experience  teaches  that  man  can 
not  live  by  negations  ;  he  wants  something  positive. 
' '  Inquietum  est  cor  nostrum  donee  restat  in  te  " ;  such 
was  the  experience  of  St.  Augustine.  Where  this  rest 
is  found  the  Gospel  plainly  teaches.  The  question, 
What  think  ye  of  Christ?  is  the  old,  old  question,  and 
yet  ever  new.  The  contribution  of  the  nineteenth 
century  to  the  solution  of  this  old  question  may  be 
seen  from  my  paper  on  the  ' '  Life-of-Jesus  Literature 
in  the  Nineteenth  Century,"  published  in  the  //omilefu 
Revieiv  (New  York,  1902,  pp.  407-412,  504-509),  and 
it  is  doubtful  whether  the  prCvSent  century,  with  its  de- 
strudive  tendency,  wall  be  able  to  bring  anything  new, 
when  German,  French,  Dutch,  and  English  writers 
have  already  exhausted  their  ingenuity.  That  which 
seemed  to  have  satisfied  one  generation,  another  re- 
jeded  ;  yea,  the  very  authors  of  this  or  that  theory 
changed  their  own  systems,  thus  again  verifying  the 
saying : 

Our  little  systems  have  their  day. 
They  have  their  day  and  cease  to  be. 

And,  as  in  the  case  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  so  it  will  be 
when  the  Gospels  are  reconstrucfted  according  to  the 
conceptions  of  modern  writers.  It  stands  to  reason 
that  if  the  old  Gospels,  which  stood  the  test  of  centu- 
ries and  conquered  the  world,  can  not  satisfy — other- 
wise they  would  need  no  reconstrucftion — the  recon- 
strudled  Gospels  will  be  less  satisfadory.     Will  they 


TRANSLATOR'S    PREFACE 


lead  to  the  confession  of  a  Thomas  :   ' '  My  Lord  and 

my  God?"  * 

In  translating  these  lec5lures  the  aim  has  been  to  be 

faithful  to  the  original  text.     Owing  to  the  great  sub- 

jecft  which  is  here  treated,  a  subjedl  w^hich  concerns  the 

salvation  of  man,   the  author  has  evidently  avoided 

that  elegance  of  didlion  which  may  captivate  the  mind 

but  satisfies  not  the  cravings  of  the  soul  and  sends  the 

heart  empty  away  ;  and,   tho  he  spoke  to  students  of 

the  different  faculties  of  the  university,  yet  he  spoke 

as  a  man  to  man,  not  in  rhetorical  flight,  but  with  the 

courage  of  convicflion  culminating  in  the  sentiment, 

terse  but  full  of  meaning  :   Theologia  crucis,  Theologia 

hccis. 

B.  P. 

March,  1903 


*  A  confession  of  which  Professor  Chase,  of  Cambridge,  in  his  paper, 
"  The  Supernatural  Element  in  the  L,ord's  Earthly  I^ife  in  Relation  to 
Historical  Methods  of  Study"  (I^ondon,  1903),  remarks:  "It  is  the  last 
word  we  need,  but  we  need  it  all.  '  My  L,ord  '  will  not  do.  We  may  call 
Him  I^ord,  I,ord,  and  yet  do  not  the  things  which  He  says.  '  Many  will 
say  to  me  in  that  day,  I^ord,  I^ord  .  .  .  and  then  will  I  profess  unto 
them,  I  never  knew  you.'     '  I<ord  '  gives  right,  but  *  God  '  gives  power." 


AUTHOR'S  PREFACE 


gpl  N  the  year  1799  appeared  Schleiermacher's 
i^i  I  ' '  Discourses  on  Religion  to  the  Cultured 
^^Sl  Among  its  Despisers, ' '  whom  the  rationalism 
of  the  eighteenth  century  had  made  what 
they  were.  In  the  winter  of  1899- 1900  Dr.  Harnack 
delivered  his  ledlures  on  the  essence  of  Christianity, 
in  which  he  pra(5lically  leads  back  to  the  views  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  Schleiermacher  had  to  deal  with 
an  estrangement  from  the  Gospel  through  the  fault  of 
rationalism ;  Harnack,  with  an  estrangement  from 
Christianity  through  the  fault  of  the  attestation  of  the 
Gospel  itself — the  Gospel,  in  short,  of  the  Bible  and 
the  Reformation.  For  aot  only  the  docflrines  devel- 
oped by  theology  with  more  or  less  skill,  but  the  most 
essential  traits  of  the  New  Testament  Gospel,  are  the 
causes  he  assigns  for  unbelief  among  the  cultured. 
On  this  account  he  presents  another  Gospel,  nomi- 
nally obtained  by  way  of  historical  criticism,  which 
neither  rests  upon  historical  criticism  nor  is  a  Gospel 
for  sinners.  His  supposition  is  not  an  historical  but  a 
dogmatical  proposition — namely,  that  a  person  like  the 
Christ  of  the  New  Testament  preaching  is  an  impossi- 
bility. From  this  proposition  he  construes,  again  from 
dogmatical  reasons,  what  in  the  New  Testament  his- 
tory, and  equally  in  the  New  Testament  predidlion, 
respe(5lively,  should  be  corre(5l  or  admissible,  and  thus 
he  brings  about  a  dogmatic  conception  which  he  calls 


AUTHOR'S    PREFACE 


historical,  aud  from  which  he  now  also  estimates  the 
New  Testament  history  in  doc5lrine  and  life  of  the 
Church.  That  this  estimate  as  well  as  his  criticism  of 
the  New  Testament  account  would  prove  otherwise  if 
the  first  proposition  read  differently  is  indeed  obvious 
to  him. 

Accordingly,  it  was  my  task  to  examine  how  the 
New  Testament  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ  originated, 
to  delineate  its  contents,  and  thus  to  prove  the  truth 
as,  according  to  my  convidlion,  it  can  only  be  proved. 
I  have  avoided,  after  the  example  of  others,  entering 
into  the  defedl  of  the  general  religious  suppositions  of 
Harnack.  The  things  old  and  new  about  the  Lord 
Christ,  His  relation  to  us  and  our  relation  to  Him,  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  Christendom  must  judge,  for  I 
desire  to  have  nothing  to  myself  in  my  belief.  Aside 
from  changes  made  necessary  in  the  verbal  order  and 
some  eliminations  and  additions,  due  to  a  regard  for 
the  difference  between  the  written  and  spoken  word, 
the  le(?tures  remain  as  they  were  delivered. 

H.  C. 

Greifswald,  September  6,   1901 


xu 


AUTHOR'S   PREFACE   TO   THE 
ENGLISH   EDITION 


W  T'  N  the  controversy  with  Harnack  the  question 
,^1*1  is,  whether  the  Christianity  of  the  apostoHc 
^^^1  message  is  right,  or  whether  it  must  be  re- 
placed by  a  Christianity  of  modern  refledlion 
and  still  more  modern  enthusiasm.  The  Christianity 
of  the  apostolic  message  applies  to  the  lost  sinner, 
to  whom  it  offers  salvation  through  the  wondrous 
grace  of  God,  who  became  our  brother  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Harnack 's  Christianity  applies  to  the  modern  man 
who  feels  himself  vexed,  not  by  the  moral  but  by  the 
intelle(5lual  problem,  because  the  moral  problem,  How 
is  the  sinner  saved  ?  does  not  exist  for  him.  For  him 
[Christianity  is  also  a  paradox,  unexpedled,  it  is  true, 
[but  thoroughly  rational ;  for  us  it  is  an  adlual  para- 
dox, a  contradic5lion  to  all  logical  and  moral  sequence, 
and  yet  the  truth.  It  follows  that  we  must  choose 
between  the  two.  To  assist  in  this  choice  it  is  hoped 
that,  with  the  help  of  God,  this  book  will  contribute. 

H.  CrKmkr 

Greifswald,  May  26,  1903 


A   REPLY   TO    HARNACK 


ON 


The   Essence  of  Christianity 


WHICH    CHRISTIANITY? 


'XJkT  HAT    is   Christianity  ?      What    does   it   want  ? 

JUL        What  does  it  offer  ?     What  does  it  require  ? 

^^jt^l  What  does  it  accomplish  ?  How  find  answers 
to  these  questions  ?  We  do  not  care  to  know 
what  this  one  or  that  one  thinks  of  Christianity,  nor 
yet  what  this  one  or  that  one  passes  off  as  Christianity, 
but  what  Christianity  really  is,  what  it  really  gives  to 
us,  what  claims  it  a(5lually  makes.  How  are  we  to 
find  this  out  ?  One  might  almost  despair  when,  with 
this  question  in  the  heart,  he  looks  at  Christendom 
divided  into  opposite  camps.  The  Greek  Catholic, 
Roman  Catholic,  and  the  Protestant  Church  with  all 
its  denominations,  say  to  us  :  Here  is  Christ !  here  is 
Christianity  !  They  all  call  themselves  Christians, 
after  the  One  man,  for  whom  His  attributive  name, 
"  Christ" — i.e.,  the  Anointed,  the  King — has  become 
a  proper  name.  They  all  lay  claim  to  us  and  ask  us 
to  join  them,  but  they  all  are  against  each  other,  and 
accuse  each  other  not  only  of  error,  but  even  of  apos- 
tasy, of  falsehood.  How  and  whereby  are  we,  then,  to 
know  who  is  right  ? 

The  question  is  not  important  merely  to  every  one 
who   in   order   to  formulate   an   independent  opinion 

1 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

wishes  to  get  information  concerning  this  force  which 
moves  the  world  ;  it  is  necessary  (for  this  they  all 
as.sert)  because,  without  an  exception,  we  all  need 
Christianit}^  and  Christianity  itself  comes  everywhere 
and  in  every  form  with  the  claim  to  exist  for  every 
one,  to  be  necessary  to  every  one,  that  his  life  may 
have  something  of  value  for  time  and  eternity. 

We  on  our  part  reje(ft  from  the  start  every  tendency 
which  will  release  us  from  the  duty,  and  therefore 
also  from  the  right,  of  free  investigation  of  the  truth 
and  free  decision  for  the  truth,  and  w^hich  demands 
only  an  obedient  attachment  to  the  communion  that 
stands  before  and  above  the  individual,  the  Church, 
as  having  decided  long  ago  what  the  truth  is.  As  if,  in 
spite  of  the  convi(5lion  living  in  the  Church  or  in  any 
communion,  the  individual  had  not  to  come  first  to  the 
same  convicftion  of  truth  in  order  to  belong  inwardly 
to  the  communion  or  be  able  to  work  in  reforming  it ! 
In  this  protest  we  formally  stand  on  the  ground  of 
the  Reformation  and  of  Protestantism.  But  in  this 
we  are  not  yet  materially  one  with  the  churches  of 
the  Reformation  and  with  that  which  is  regarded  in 
them  as  the  essence  of  Christianity.  By  the  same  way 
the  same  result  must  first  be  obtained,  if  it  can  be  ob- 
tained at  all.  Have  the  churches  of  tlie  Reformation 
obtained  this  result  ?  Have  they  perceived  the  essence 
of  Christianity  ?  Do  they  represent  it  ?  Do  they  de- 
clare it  ?  Or  have  they  and  their  members  only  opin- 
ions about  Christianity — one  this  opinion,  another  that, 
but  none  of  them  the  reality  ? 

Aside  from  the  consideration  that  these  churches 
not  only  in  common  oppose  Catholicism  and  papacy, 

2 


WHICH  CHRISTIANITY? 


but  among  themselves  have  also  opposed  each  other 
most  vehemently,  and  in  part  still  oppose,  it  is  more  to 
the  point  to  consider  that  we  stand  at  present  in  the 
midst  of  a  hotter  and  more  serious  battle.     With  the' 
exception,  perhaps,  of  the  confli(5ls  of  the  early  Chris- 
tian centuries  and  of  the  Reformation,  the  present  con- 
troversy is  the  severest  that  has  ever  been  waged.  We 
battle  for  the  person  and  importance  of  Jesus  Christ 
Himself.     Indeed,  we  fight  a  battle  in  which  no  truce 
is  possible.     Vidory  for  either  side  necessarily  means  ^ 
the  destru(ftion  of  the  other.     It  is  the  battle  of  one^ 
religion  with  another  religion.     The  one  regards  Christ 
as  a  natural  phenomenon  of  history,  appearing  in  the 
normal  course  of  history,  who  worked  and  still  works 
like  every  other  important  man,  only  that  He  sur- 
passes all  others  in  power;  who  in  a  singular  and  per- 
fe(5t  fidelity  to  His  trust  has  put  His  gifts  and  the 
knowledge  of  God  acquired  in  connedlion  with  them 
and  the  understanding  of  the  world  obtained  by  Him 
into  such  relations  with  motives  and  obje6ls  that  He 
alone  solves  the  mysteries  of  our  life  and  of  the  existence 
of  the  world,  and  shows  a  blessed  goal  for  them  both. 
We  are  to  see  in  Christ  the  man  in  whom  the  good  has^ 
become  a  reality  in  the  world,  and  this  realization  of, 
the  good  is  to  keep  us  from  despair  as  w^e  attempt  suchi 
realization   also.      In   looking  to  Divine  Providence, j 
which  has  called  such  a  man  into  existence,  w^e  are  toj 
be  assured  of  the  forgiveness  or  pardon  of  our  errors,^ 
our  sins  ;  shown  thereby  we  are  to  enjoy  this  knowl- 
edge of  God  w^hich  we  thus  acquire,  and  by  faith  in 
this  deed  of  God  to  strive  after  the  like  realization  of 
the  good. 

8 


THE  BSSKNCK  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Thus  the  one.  The  other  rehgion  regards  Christ 
as  an  entirely  irregular  appearance  in  history,  as  a 
man  indeed  like  ourselves,  partaking  of  our  flesh  and 
blood,  who  became  our  life's  comrade,  our  brother, 
whose  complete  identification  with  our  race  is  a  matter 
of  certainty,  and  who  by  this  membership  in  our  race, 
for  our  benefit  first  became  everything  that  He  was — 
no,  not  was,  but  is.  The  meaning  of  His  life  and' 
nature  is  unique,  not  merely  because  it  belongs  to  no 
other  individual  man,  but  because  it  does  not  apper- 
tain to  the  race  of  man  as  such.  It  does  not  belong  to 
Him  because  He  is  man  come  out  from  our  race,  but 
because  He  became  man,  entered  into  our  race  ;  He  ex- 
isted before  He  became  man.  He  was  and  is  God  in 
eternal  manner,  and  forever  He  united  Himself  with 
us  and  our  race,  as  only  He  can  do  it,  who  is  God  and 
lyord  over  all,  and  thus  became  our  brother,  who 
shares  everything  with  us,  our  misery,  our  judgment, 
that  everything  that  He  is  may  redound  to  our 
benefit. 

According  to  the  religion  first  named,  Christ  is  a 
man  like  ourselves,  fully  and  completely  and  only  a 
man,  nothing  else,  only  distinguished  by  His  verj^ 
prominent,  spiritually  moral  gifts,  whereby  He  worked 
Himself  up  to  a  perfe(5l  communion  with  God,  showed 
Himself  to  be  in  full  and  blessed  independence  of  the 
world,  and  proved  His  religious  and  moral  highness 
in  a  unique  domination  of  the  world,  so  that  the  suffer- 
ing also  which  was  inflidled  upon  Him  could  not  de- 
stroy the  peace  of  His  religious  and  moral  attitude 
toward  God  and  the  brethren.  Thus  He  was  a  man 
without  an  equal,  inviting  us  to  an  indefatigable  emu- 

4 


WHICH  CHRISTIANITY? 


lation,  but  a  man  whom,  without  deceiving  ourselvCvS, 
we  can  not  even  follow  in  the  initial  steps.  For  we 
all  have  to  deal  with  sin,  and,  indeed,  with  our  sin,  with 
the  sin  in  us,  as  He  did  not,  and  on  this  account  our 
task  compared  to  His  is  not  realizable.  But  on  the 
other  hypothesis  He  is  the  God-man,  whose  incarna- 
tion and  humanity  is  a  humiliation  continuing  itself 
unto  death  and  down  into  the  realm  of  the  dead,  that 
in  the  deepest  depths  of  our  misery  we  should  not  be 
deprived  of  the  sympathizing  Man  of  Pity  and  Savior. 

Of  these  two  contrasted  faiths,  which,  then,  is  right  ? 

It  is  felt  more  and  more,  tho  not  always  clearly  per- 
ceived, that  we  can  not  avoid  this  question  nor  super- 
ciliously postpone  its  answer,  as  that  Roman  once  did 
who  was  to  pass  the  sentence  on  Christ.  The  jesting 
attitude  that  it  is  impossible  to  know  and  to  say  what 
is  truth,  what  in  the  last  analysis  can  alone  claim  to 
be  reality  and  authority,  is  no  longer  possible.  Our 
life  not  only  loses  in  value  when  the  so-called  religious 
interest  expressing  itself  in  the  search  for  truth  is  not 
and  can  not  be  satisfied;  but  we  have  lived,  cared, 
worked,  fought,  suffered  entirely  in  vain  if  we  are 
obliged  to  walk  our  way  without  an  answer  to  this 
question.  We  are  then  nothing  but  an  incomprehen- 
sible play  of  the  waves  rushing  onward  in  the  vast 
sea.  Rather  not  to  be  at  all  than  to  live  to  no 
purpose  and  without  aim,  to  live  a  life  which  for 
itself  is  hardly  worth  the  while  to  be  lived,  except  in 
view  of  something  beyond  it,  for  which  we  are  here 
and  whither  we  hope  through  Christ  to  come !  Before 
we  resign  ourselves  to  that  view,  let  us  endeavor  by 
all  means  to  find  the  truth.     We  have  the  truth  by 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


having  Christ.     We  have  Christ  only  when  we  have 
Him  as  He  adlually  is;  otherwise  we  have  Him  not,  in 
spite  of  all  our  opinions  about  Him.     On  this  account 
the  question  concerning  the  truth  is  very  closely  con- 
ne(5led  with  the  question  concerning  Christ,  concern- 
ing the  Messiah,  concerning  Christianity  and  its  essence. 
I^et  the  decision  be  what  it  may,  here  it  must  be  made. 
But  how  are  we  to  make  the  inquiry  in  order  to 
reach  the  decision,  to  discover  the  truth  concerning 
Christ,  to  find  truth  itself  ?    Whence  are  we  to  find  out 
what,  on  the  whole,  is  real,  true  Christianity?     One 
says  :   "  Believe  in  Christ."     Yes,  what  shall  I  believe 
of  Him  ?     Or  shall  I  believe  nothing  of  Him,  only 
believe  in  Him  ?     Or  only  believe  Him  ?     What  is  it 
to  believe  ?     What  did  Christ  intend  ?     What  has  He 
done?     One  says:   "  This  is  an  historical  question,  at 
least  this  last  question  as  to  what  He  intended  and 
did,  and  as  an  historical  question  it  can  only  be  solved 
by  way  and  with  the  means  of  historical  inquiry ._5^'i 
That  it  is  from  one  aspeA  an  historical  question  is" 
true,  but  it  is  questionable  whether  it  is  merely  an  his- 
torical question,  and  whether  it  is  to  be  answered  by 
the  ordinary  means  of  other  historical  inquiry.     For 
the  question  concerning  that  which  Christ   did   and 
whereby   He   worked   is  closely   connected   with  the 
question   whether  we  now  live  in  and  by  the  after- 
effeas  which  are  called  forth  by  His  person  and  His 
ac5livity,  or  whether  He  works  even  now  and  will  con- 
tinue to  work  ?     It  is  right  to  distinguish  between  the 
present  appearance  of  Christianity  and  its  first  appear- 
ance in  history.     It  is  also  right  to  be  referred  to  this 
very  first  appearance,  to  the  form  in  which  Christian- 

6 


WHICH  CHRISTIANITY? 


ity  has  gained  its  first  vidlories,  when  the  question  as 
to  the  essence  of  Christianity  is  raised.  Where  Chris- 
tianity gained  the  vicflory  over  the  world  we  must  look 
for  signs  of  the  power  by  which  the  vidlory  was  won. 
There,  if  anywhere,  the  essence  of  this  world-historical 
phenomenon  will  come  out  the  purest,  and  there  will 
gush  forth  for  all  time  the  fountain  of  youth  from 
which  it  can  renew  itself ;  for  all  manifestations  in 
the  world  are  maintained  by  the  forces  of  their  begin- 
ning. We  must  thus  go  back  to  the  time  of  the 
beginning.  But — where  lies  the  time  of  the  beghumig 
of  Christianity  f 

This  is  the  first  great  question  which  we  must 
answer.  Is  the  appearance  and  work  of  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  Christianity  ? 
And  is  Christia7iity  the  religion  which  fesiis  has  p7^ac- 
tised,  which  He  has  attested,  to  whose  pracftise  and 
attendance  He  has  invited  men  and  shown  them  the 
way,  a  fire  which  by  His  preaching  He  has  kindled 
in  the  hearts  of  His  hearers  ?  Are  we  to  regard  the 
Christianity  of  Christ,  as  it  has  been  called,  as  that  in 
which  the  essence  of  Christianity  has  come  out  with 
firstness  and  with  original  power?  Or  is  the  power 
which  proceeds  from  Christ  a7id  to-day  yet  produces  ChHs- 
tia7iity  somethiiig  else  than  the  religio7i  which  He  Him- 
self practised?  We  see  already  that  the  question  as 
to  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  Christianity  leads  us 
to  the  most  serious  difficulties.  Were  Christianity  the 
religion  which  Christ  Himself  had  pra(5lised  we  stand 
almost  helpless  in  presence  of  the  sources  on  which 
our  inquiry  depends  ;  for,  tho  we  obtain  a  clear  insight 
into  His  own  religious  life,  into  His  faith.  His  prayer, 

7 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

His  walk  in  the  law  of  God,  that  which  the  Gospels 
record  as  the  principal  thing  about  Jesus  is  not  this, 
but  that  which  He  does  for  us  and  whereby  He  lives 
and  suffers  for  men.  Our  sources  are  a(5lually  the 
oldest  attestations  of  Christianity,  of  the  Christian 
message,  which  we  have.  This  is  a  generally  ac- 
knowledged fadl  with  regard  to  our  New  Testament 
writings  wholly  aside  from  the  question  as  to  the 
credibility  of  their  contents.  But  now  these  very 
writings  show  in  Christ  anything  but  a  founder  of  re- 
ligion. When  Christianity  is  called  after  Him,  it  is 
not  because — according  to  these  sources — He  has  prac- 
tised and  announced  this  religion  first.  He  proclaims 
the  Father,  before  whom  He  walks  Himself,  and  on 
whom  He  Himself  believes,  and  He  also  opens  the  access 
unto  the  Father,  not  by  His  teaching,  not  by  His  ex- 
ample, but  by  His  death,  by  the  forgiveness  of  our 
sins,  which  He  effedls.  Thus,  altho  He  is  what  we 
are,  yet  He  stands  in  a  different  relation  to  the  Father 
than  we.  He  is  our  brother,  who  works  for  us,  to  whom 
we  owe  everything  ;  not  the  brother  who  has  nothing 
else  for  Himself  but  His  brethren.  What  He  has  we 
are  to  have,  what  we  have  He  will  share  ;  He  shares 
our  sin  and  guilt  without  having  guilt ;  we  are  to  have 
the  forgiveness  which  He  has  purchased  for  us.  He 
is  not,  like  ourselves,  a  subject  ofreligioji ;  on  the  co7itrary, 
He  is  the  object  of  the  religion,  the  object  of  Christianity. 
He  is  not — again  according  to  our  sources — a  man  of 
history,  a  man  who  once  was  like  others,  whose 
importance  is  to  be  understood  from  that  which  they 
have  been  for  their  time  and  from  their  after-effecfls. 
We   hear   nothing   of   after-effedls   of  Jesus,  only   of 


WHICH  CHRISTIANITY? 


effe(5ls,  and  indeed  of  effedls  which  after  His  earthly 
history  He  exerts  from  his  present  place,  from  the 
place  of  God  beyond  this  world — from  heaven.  This 
is  not  the  point  of  view  from  which  that  is  regarded 
which  is  otherwise  called  after-efFedls,  in  speaking  of 
Socrates,  of  Plato,  of  Luther,  of  Goethe.  It  is  a  real 
a<5livity  of  Christ  from  heaven  such  as  is  not  possible 
to  any  of  the  blessed,  to  the  righteous  made  perfedl. 
What  is  recorded  of  Christ's  earthly  adlivity  is  only 
the  beginning,  the  adlual  tenor  and  aim  of  his  a(5livity; 
He  now  only  unfolds.  As  to  this,  something  is  indeed 
said  of  Him  which  has  not  and  can  not  have  its  equal 
in  all  history.  Are  we  to  eliminate  it,  on  this  account, 
from  the  very  start  as  unhistorical ,  and  treat  every- 
thing which  is  reported  to  us  of  this  activity  of  Jesus 
in  accordance  with  the  canon  that,  corredlly  v.-  isid- 
ered,  there  can  not  be  present  effe(5ls  but  only  after- 
effects— historical  effecfls  of  Jesus? 

To  this  must  be  further  added  the  deeds  which  Jesus 
did  on  earth,  which  otherwise  do  not  and  can  not 
take  place  on  historical  soil,  in  accordance  with  the 
natural  construdlion  of  things — His  miracles,  and 
also  the  miracles  which  were  wrought  on  Him:  His 
birth.  His  endowment  with  the  Spirit  of  God  beyond 
measure.  His  transfiguration.  His  resurre^ion  and 
ascension.  How  are  we  to  know  the  authenticity 
of  the  writings  or  of  the  testimonies  which  we  have 
concerning  Him  and  His  history  and  importance? 
Are  we  to  eliminate  all  this  miraculous  element  as 
incredible?  The  New  Testament  writings  are  the 
documents  of  the  first  annunciation  of  Christianity 
which  we  have.      Shall  we  say  that   already    when 

9 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


these  documents  appeared,  Christ  was  no  more  under- 
stood ;  that  through  the  first  apostoHc  proclamation 
a  garland  of  legends  had  been  wound  around  His  head 
which  we  must  resolutely  tear  away  in  order  that 
only  the  historical  may  remain  ?  And  what,  then,  is 
really  historical  in  each  of  these  unique  phenomena? 
Or  shall  we  take  everything  for  granted  that  is  said 
of  Him,  and  with  it  acknowledge  a  record  and  a  char- 
ac5ler  that  stand  absolutely  alone  in  history  ?  Every 
criticism  of  our  sources,  be  it  of  this  or  that  kind,  is 
not  only  an  historical  but  a  dogmatical  criticism  — 
Harnack  criticizes  these  sources  just  as  dogmatically 
as  others  who  do  not  share  his  standpoint,  only  that 
he,  protedled  by  the  authority  of  his  great  name, 
designates  his  dogmatical  critique  historical. 

If  we  are  to  begin  by  distinguishing  and  eliminating 
everything  which  goes  beyond  the  measure  of  the 
human,  let  us  also  understand  that  Christianity  will 
then  have  an  entirely  different  face  from  that  which  it 
actually  has  in  our  New  Testament  writings,  and  that 
the  religion  in  which  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testament 
is  the  obje(5l  of  faith  is  entirely  different  from  the 
rehgion  whose  first,  most  prominent,  and  most  effedlive 
subjecft  is  Jesus  considered  merely  as  a  man.  We  have, 
then,  to  deal  with  different  rehgions— with  the  religion 
of  the  New  Testament  and  with  the  religion  that 
results  from  the  foregoing  kind  of  criticism. 

To  this  there  is  to  be  added  yet  another  fadl.  There 
is  really  a  difference,  tho  no  opposition  and  no  dispute, 
between  the  Gospel  which  Jesus  has  proclaimed  and 
the  Gospel  concerning  Jesus  as  the  disciples  have 
proclaimed  it  and  by  means  of  which  they  overcame 

10 


WHICH  CHRISTIANITY? 


the  world.  It  was  not  Jesus'  proclamation  that 
founded  Christianity  in  the  world,  but  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  disciples  about  Jesus.  Jesus  Himself  ac- 
complished nothing  until  His  death.  Never,  perhaps, 
has  a  life  ended  so  unsuccessful  as  the  life  of  Jesus. 
Even  His  disciples,  who  had  been  with  Him  and  about 
Him  all  the  time,  and  had  retained  their  hope  in  Him 
till  the  night  in  which  He  was  betrayed,  finally  aban- 
doned belief  in  Him.  Only  His  resurrecftion  could 
bring  back  their  belief,  now  become  a  faith  of  a  different 
kind — firmer,  more  joyous,  more  unswerving,  more 
certain  of  vicftory;  but  how  small  are  even  these  effedls 
that  immediately  followed  the  resurre<5lion  compared 
with  those  which  the  disciples  later  proclaimed  !  I^et  us 
only  be  reminded  how  the  apostle  (I.  Corinthians  xv) 
enumerates  the  appearances  of  the  risen  Savior,  and 
how  an  entirely  new  and  different  result  is  attained  by 
Peter's  pentecostal  preaching  (A(5ls  ii).  Only  the 
Gospel  of  Jesus,  as  the  disciples  have  preached  it, 
had,  as  we  should  say,  an  effedl.  To  their  preaching 
Christianity  owes  its  existence  as  a  world-historical 
phenomenon. 

To  this  proclamation,  however,  we  owe  entirely 
our  knowledge  about  Jesus,  His  appearance,  His 
a(5livity,  His  fate,  so  that  we  can  say  that  all  docu- 
ments which  we  have  concerning  Him  reduce  them- 
selves to  the  preaching  of  the  disciples.  All  New 
Testament  writings  are  documentary  vouchers  of  the 
first  fundamental  preaching  of  Christ.  They  mediate 
to  us  the  knowledge  of  His  history  by  declaring  the 
understanding  of  that  history  and  of  its  importance. 
This  also  holds  good  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 

H 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


which,  according  to  chapter  ii  :  3,  was  written  by  a 
disciple  of  the  apostles,  and  thereby  testifies  unto 
us  of  the  belief  in  the  importance  of  the  person  and 
history  of  Jesus  which  lived  in  the  congregations 
founded  by  the  apostles.  Now  this  apostolic  or  New 
Testament  preaching  contains  for  every  historian, 
whose  obje(5l  is  the  investigation  and  exhibition  of 
the  spiritual  life-movement  of  humanity,  a  series  of  the 
most  critical,  most  exceptional  moments.  The  w^hole 
history  of  Jesus  is  a  history  without  comparison,  going 
far  beyond  everything  which  legend,  the  mythology 
of  nations,  has  shaped.  On  the  one  hand,  it  is  the 
history  of  a  man  who  lived,  felt,  suffered  humanly 
as  only  one  could  humanly  live,  feel,  and  suffer,  who 
has  entered  into  the  fate  of  the  noblest  of  all  times — 
namely,  to  be  rejedled  and  killed.  So  only  can  one  con- 
ceive it.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  a  history  com- 
mencing with  a  miracle  not  having  its  equal,  inter- 
blended  with  miracles  such  as  none  of  the  servants  of 
God  have  ever  performed,  and  in  its  earthly  course 
closing  again  with  a  miracle  not  having  its  equal.  Such 
a  history,  so  completely  different  from  any  other  part 
of  known  history,  stands,  so  far,  unhinged  from  the  his- 
torical life  of  humanity.  The  events  or  happenings, 
however,  which  make  it  a  history  beyond  comparison 
are  so  insolubly  connedled  with  Christianity — at  least, 
with  that  Christianity  to  which  in  our  query  we  must 
first  of  all  go  back— that  either  must  stand  or  fall 
with  the  other.  Shall  we  now  say  that  this  union  of 
history  and  religion  is  only  the  produ6l  of  the  concep- 
tion which  Jesus  found  among  his  disciples?  Have 
the  disciples,  as  children  of  their  time,  by  means  of  the 

12 


WHICH  CHRISTIANITY? 


ideas  received  b}^  them  from  the  age  they  lived  in,  made 
from  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  a  Gospel  concerning  Jesus  ? 
And  should  it,  therefore,  be  necessary  to  go  back  to 
the  Gospel  proclaimed  by  Jesus  Himself  in  order  to 
find  what  real  Christianity  is  according  to  that?  But 
where  have  we  this  Gospel  proclaimed  by  Jesus? 
After  what  critical  standard  are  we  to  reconstrudl  it  ? , 
For  only  by  a  reconstrudlion  could  we  restore  it.  And' 
after  we  had  reconstrudled  it,  w^ould  we  not  also  have 
to  distinguish  in  the  preaching  of  Jesus  between  the 
transient  and  lasting,  between  the  form  of  his  thoughts 
belonging  to  His  people  and  His  time  and  the  everlast- 
ing tenor  expressed  in  contemporaneous  form  ?  Are, 
for  instance,  the  discourses  and  sayings  of  Jesus 
which  refer  to  His  second  coming  genuine  or  spurious  ? 
And  when  genuine,  have  they  still  the  same  value  to- 
day or  not  ?  Jesus  speaks  of  angels  as  of  something 
real,  of  their  interest  in  our  destiny,  of  their  ministry 
at  the  end  of  time,  when  the  wicked  shall  be  separated 
from  the  righteous.     Is  He  right  ? 

In  the  Tübingen  school  the  apostle  Paul  was  regarded 
as  the  adlual  creator  of  Christianity  as  a  w^orld-religion. 
Now  he  is  regarded  as  the  one  who,  in  spite  of  his 
great  success,  yes,  perhaps  because  of  the  same,  is 
said  to  have  tempered  the  Christian  preaching  in  the 
strongest  manner  with  thoughts  and  ideas  of  Jewish 
religious  speculation,  so  that  he  no  more  distinguished 
between  religion  and  theology.  Christ  alone  is  the 
real  author  of  Christianity;  from  His  preaching  only 
can  be  seen  what  Christianity  aclually  should  be  and 
effedl  ;  according  to  it  we  can  estimate  what  it  became 
and  what  it  can  be,  when  it  is  clearly  set  forth.     It 

13 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

depends  on  this  pure  comprehension  of  His  preaching, 
what  He  adlually  said,  what  He  meant  to  say,  and 
not  that  which  tradition  makes  Him  say,  nor  that 
in  which  there  is  mere  adaptation  to  the  ideas  of 
His  people.  Thus  we  could  only  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  true  Christianity  by  an  energetic 
critical  labor.  Such  labor  can,  of  course,  only  be 
undertaken  by  science.  To  the  labor  and  results  of 
science  we  are  thus  diredled  with  our  desire  for  knowl- 
edge and  understanding  of  what  Christianity  is. 
Science  only  is  to  give  us  the  real  and  true  religion. 
And  yet  every  one,  even  the  commonest  man,  has  not 
only  the  most  urgent  interest  to  find  out  what  Chris- 
tianity is;  he  has  also  the  faculty  to  decide  for  himself , 
without  the  help  of  science,  whether  or  not  in  that  which 
offers  itself  to  him  as  religion  he  finds  God  and  God's 
grace;  if  the  religion  which  Jesus  pracftised,  proclaimed 
and  demanded  comes  forth  so  effectively  in  the  Gospel 
of  Jesus,  and  is  so  clearly  recognizable  that,  in  spite 
of  all  veilings,  obscurations,  and  pollutions,  it  yet 
exercises  its  power  to  this  day,  so  that,  as  far  as  our 
question  is  concerned,  it  only  depends  on  a  proper  set- 
ting forth  of  this,  its  power,  free  from  all  accessory  ap- 
pearances and  additions.  Harneck  has  distinguished 
between  ' '  powers  ' '  and  * '  props ' '  in  this  matter  of 
comprehending  truth.  The  distindion  is  especially 
flattering  to  the  semiculture  of  our  times.  We,  the 
cultured  ones,  have  the  ''powers";  the  remainder  of 
mankind  reach  up  to  it  only  by  means  of  the  ' '  props. ' ' 
Is  the  Gospel  to  be  understood  only  by  the  cultured  ? 
We  need  to  have  this  contrast  only  uttered  to  feel  it  as 
the  frivolous  boasting  of  a  so-called  aristocracy  of  cul- 

14 


WHICH  CHRISTIANITY? 


ture,  especially  in  matters  of  religion,  which  every  one, 
no  matter  what  his  position,  must  be  able  to  under- 
stand, or  religion  is  a  palpable  absurdity. 

Our  present  task,  that  we  are  to  perform  for  those 
who  are  not  able  to  do  it,  is  to  strip  the  real  Gospel 
of  all  the  Jewish  and  theological  covers  which  encase 
it,  proclaim  the  pure  Gospel  thus  obtained  to  our 
whole  people,  and  effedl  by  it  at  last  the  purification  and 
completion  of  the  Reformation,  commenced,  indeed,  in 
the  sixteenth  century,  but  now  stuck  fast  for  want  of 
courage  and  knowledge.  But  it  is  indeed  a  question 
whether  the  difference  between  ' '  powers ' '  and  * '  props ' ' 
(tho  it  covers  a  theory  that  is  intolerable  in  matters  of 
religious  life  and  the  religious  communion)  will  ever 
cease.  But  suppose  we  have  the  task  we  have  named, 
including  the  task  of  completing  the  Reformation  or 
are  accomplishing  a  new  Reformation,  who  has  hitherto 
spoken  the  redeeming  word  ?  Who  has  given  us  the  re- 
construdled,  genuine  Gospel  ?  Ritschl  or  Herrmann  ? 
Holztmann  or  Baldensperger  ?  or  even  Harneck  ?  But, 
in  fadi,  we  have  not  that  task.  t\i^  apostolic  preaching 
of  the  Gospel  not  merely  contains  but  is  truly  the  eter- 
nal Gospel.  There  remains,  indeed,  a  difference  be- 
tween the  orthodox  and  liberal,  a  difference  which 
only  the  coming  of  Him  will  remove  from  the  world 
who  once  asked :  Howbeit  when  the  Son  of  Man  Com- 
eth, shall  He  find  faith  on  the  earth? 

I^et  us  revert  to  a  fa(5l  already  alluded  to,  which 
hitherto  has  not  been  sufficiently  appreciated — name- 
ly, the  unity  of  the  New  Testament  testimony  with 
regard  to  all  that  it  says  of  the  person,  work,  des- 
tiny,  acflivity   of  Jesus,    and   of   the    importance   of 

15 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Jesus  to  us.  The  New  Testament  writings  are  by 
different  authors  and  show  many  differences — whether 
explicable  or  not,  we  have  here  not  to  investigate. 
The  synoptic  account  of  the  appearance  of  Jesus 
differs  from  the  Johannean  account,  the  one  being 
a  record  of  the  teachings,  deeds,  and  destinies  of 
the  miraculously  born  man  Jesus,  who  died  on 
the  cross,  and  rose  again  after  three  da5^s,  and  the 
other  a  history  of  one  who  was  primarily  the  shad- 
owing forth  of  the  Logos,  the  Word  made  flesh. 
Think  also  of  the  Jewish  Christianity  of  James's 
epistle  and  of  the  Apocalypse  on  the  one  hand,  the 
Jewish  Christianity  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews 
on  the  other  hand,  and  add  to  these  the  Gentile  Chris- 
tian Gospel  as  Paul  proclaimed  and  represented  it. 
But  in  spite  of  every  supposed  or  real  difference,  all  the 
New  Testament  writings  agree  in  that  which  they  say 
of  the  mystery  of  the  Christ's  person,  of  the  importance 
of  His  destiny  for  us,  and  of  the  everlasting  significance 
of  His  person,  the  matters  which  decide  our  eternal  des- 
tiny, and  that  of  the  whole  world's.  Had  there  existed  a 
difference  in  this  respe(5l — e.g. ,  between  Paul  and  James 
— it  were  out-and-out  inconceivable,  especially  incon- 
ceivable in  the  Jewish  Christian  James,  that  it  is  not 
even  mentioned,  let  alone  that  it  should  not  have  come 
into  the  foreground.  The  oldest  appellation  of  the 
Christians,  which  is  evidently  of  Jewish  origin,  reads  : 
' '  They  that  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus. ' ' 
They  are  thus  people  who  pray  to  Jesus.  They  consider, 
therefore,  Jesus,  and,  indeed,  the  Crucified  and  Risen 
One,  as  one  who  is  God  and  Lord.  The  Christians  on 
their  part  accept  this  designation  in  spite  of  the  accen- 

16 


WHICH  CHRISTIANITY? 


tuation  of  the  unity  of  God,  in  which  they  fully  agree 
with  Israel.  Thus  they  are  called  in  the  Acfts  of  the 
Apostles  and  also  by  Paul.  Could  it  be  conceivable 
that  a  Jewish  Christian,  like  the  author  of  James's 
Epistle,  should  not  have  opposed,  in  the  name  of  the 
Jews  and  in  the  name  of  Israelitish  monotheism,  such 
a  deification  of  man  if  it  had  been  the  sign  of  the 
original  JewivSh  Christianity  not  to  regard  Jesus  as 
God  and  not  to  pray  to  him  ?  No  ;  the  difference, 
which  for  a  time  really  existed  in  the  apostolic  circle, 
until  it  was  determined  and  overcome,  did  not  at  all 
concern  the  person  of  Christ,  nor  the  importance  of  His 
work,  His  suffering,  death,  and  resurrec5lion  for  us. 
It  concerned  merely  a  question  of  missionary  pracftise, 
which  might  indeed  be  a  fundamental  question,  ulti- 
mately connecfled  with  the  importance  of  Christ  and  His 
work  for  us,  but  which  was  first  of  all  a  question  of  mis- 
sionary pra(5lise.  It  was  the  question  w^hether  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Gentile  world  could  have  part  in  the  Gospel 
without  first  becoming  members  of  Israel's  communion; 
whether  the  Divine  elecftion  which  Israel  enjoyed  had 
now  turned  to  the  Gentiles  after  Israel  had  show^n 
itself  unbelieving.  It  was  firmly  settled  that  we 
can  only  partake  of  the  salvation  by  the  free  Divine 
elecftion,  that  there  exists  no  natural  right  to  salvation 
or  redemption.  But  it  was  not  yet  clearly  known  that 
Israel's  elec5lion  had  acftually  come  to  naught  until  the 
time  when  the  Gentiles  should  be  converted.  (The 
law  was  still  regarded  as  the  condition  under  which 
the  believers  became  partakers  of  the  grace  of  redemp- 
tion, without  understanding  that  the  law  without  ex- 
ception denied  the  salvation  to  every  Israelite. )     But 

17 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

of  a  Jewish  Christianity^  which  i7i  thefu7idamentalques-\ 
tio7is  conceriiing   the  person  and  importance  of  fesus 
Christ  had  differed  from  the  apostolic  prediHioji,  we  hear 
nothhig  during  the  aHjial  apostolic  time.    This  only  be- 
longs to  a  much  later  time. 

In  thus  obtaining  a  unitary  aspedl  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment authors  with  regard  to  the  person  and  importance 
of  Jesus,  we  must  place  before  ourselves  the  consensus 
of  their  affirmation  in  connedlion  with  the  view  of  Christ 
Himself  as  stated  by  them.  We  must  then  consider 
the  difficulties  which  stand  in  our  way  in  acknowl- 
edging this  as  an  a(5tual  Gospel,  and  we  must  answer 
the  question  as  to  what  pidlure  of  Christ  and  His 
views  is  now  set  over  against  it  to  demand  acknowl- 
edgment, and  then  decide  the  question  accordingly — 
What  is  really  the  eternal  Gospel  ?  Only  in  this  way 
shall  we  see  whether  we  have  the  true  Gospel  in  the 
apostolic  representation  and  in  the  representation  of  the 
evangelists,  or  w^hether  we  are  obliged  to  look  away 
from  these,  and  attempt  to  discriminate  the  eternal 
content  of  the  Gospels  by  minute  critical  processes. 


18 


II 

THE  APOSTOLIC   MESSAGE 


J       ET  US  begin  with  the  apostolic  message  of  Christ. 
±^  God  has  charged  us  (says  Peter,  in   the 

^^1  house  of  the  Roman  centurion  CorneHus)  to 
preach  unto  the  people,  and  to  testify  that 
this  Jesus,  whom  His  people  betrayed,  whom  the  Gen- 
tiles crucified,  and  whom  God  raised  up  the  third  day, 
is  ordained  of  God  to  be  the  Judge  of  quick  and  dead. 
To  Him  bear  all  the  prophets  witness,  that  through 
His  name  every  one  that  believeth  in  Him  shall  re- 
ceive remission  of  sins  (Ac5ls  x  :  42,  43).  That  He  is 
crucified  is  the  sin  of  Israel,  who  became  the  traitor 
and  murderer  of  Jesus  ;  and  yet  did  this  happen  after 
God's  premeditated  counsel  and  will.  For  this,  till  then 
the  greatest  of  all  sins,  the  rejedlion  of  the  Messiah 
bringing  grace  and  salvation,  God  allowed,  and  He 
reckoned  not  unto  the  world  its  trespass — this  sin  and  all 
sin  that  was  done  before  and  is  conne(5led  with  it — that 
we  should  have  in  Him  who  was  crucified  the  forgive- 
ness of  all  sins.  Redemption,  forgiveness  of  sins,  and 
with  it  deliverance  from  judgment  and  perdition  are 
offered  to  us  in  Him.  Till  then  the  sin  of  the  whole 
world  had  remained  under  Divine  patience.  Now 
comes  the  day  when  it  is  finished,  and  must,  therefore, 
be  visited  upon  the  sinner.  It  is  finished,  indeed,  but 
— it  is  not  visited.  No  hand  withereth  which  was 
lifted  up  against   the  Holy  One  of   God  ;  no  mouth 

19 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

groweth  dumb  which  has  derided  Him,  Jesus  dies 
under  the  hands  of  His  enemies,  and  not  even  one  of 
his  disciples  steps  in  for  Him.  They  are  all  offended 
in  Him,  as  He  prophesied  to  them.  It  must  needs  be 
that  Jesus  should  die.  He  would  rather  die  than  judge 
the  world,  and  He  must  die — die  that  the  world 
should  not  be  condemned. 

From  that  hour  there  is  forgiveness  of  all  sins.  On 
this  account  Paul  saith  that  he  knew  nothing,  and  is 
determined  not  to  know  anything,  save  Jesus,  and  Him 
crucified ;  that  in  Jesus  Christ  we  have  forgiveness  of 
sins  through  His  blood  ;  that  we  are  redeemed  through 
His  blood.  John  saith  that  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Son  of  God,  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin,  and  thus 
frees  us  from  all  guilt  ;  that  Jesus  Christ,  the  right- 
eous, is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins  ;  and  not  for  ours 
only,  but  also  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  world.  Paul 
and  John  both  say  that  in  this  Jesus  who  was  cruci- 
fied for  us,  whom  God  raised  up,  the  love  of  God  has 
been  manifested  toward  us  so  greatly  and  wondrously 
that  God  even  commends  and  praises  it.  Peter,  how- 
ever, saith  :  ' '  Know  that  3^e  were  redeemed  from  your 
vain,  superficial  manner  of  life  handed  down  from  your 
fathers,  not  with  corruptible  things,  with  silver  or 
gold,  but  with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ,  as  of  a 
lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot."  But  of  His 
resurre(5lion  he  saith  :  ' '  Blessed  be  the  God  and  P'ather 
of  our  lyord  Jesus  Christ,  who,  according  to  His  great 
mercy,  begat  us  again  unto  a  living  hope  by  the  resur- 
redlion  of  Jesus  Christ  from  the  dead." 

Thus  Jesus,  who  was  betrayed,  reje(5led,  deserted, 
and  given   up  even  by  His   disciples,   is  praised   by 

20 


THE  APOSTOI.IC  MESSAGE 


them  as  Christ.  He  is,  indeed,  the  Christ  through 
His  sufferings,  death,  and  resurredlion.  In  this  power 
to  remit  sin  lies  His  importance  as  Christ.  By  this 
has  He  redeemed  us.  He  has  supplied  us  with  the 
forgiveness  of  sin,  so  that  we  may  now  a(5lually  expe- 
rience it.  Not  only  according  to  but  through  that  for- 
giveness is  He  the  Christ,  the  King  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  appointed  and  instituted  by  God  as  the  redeemer 
and  helper  of  all  those  who  hope  in  Him.  On  Him 
who  was  crucified,  whom  God  has  raised  up,  but  who 
forever  has  on  Him  the  marks  of  that  w^hich  He  has 
experienced  from  us,  as  He  is  forever  the  same,  whom 
God  has  justified  by  the  resurredlion  from  death — on 
Him  we  are  to  believe.  Him  we  are  to  know  and  ac- 
knowledge as  the  Ivord  and  Judge,  Redeemer  and 
Savior,  given  to  us  by  God,  and  ourselves  as  His  re- 
deemed ones.  Through  the  blood  of  the  cross  He 
made  peace,  on  the  cross  He  blotted  out  the  hand- 
writing which  testified  and  testifies  against  us.  Not 
the  life  which  Jesus  lived  saves  us,  but  the  death 
which  He  suffered  and  toward  which  His  whole  life 
pressed.  How  was  this  possible  ?  How  is  this  to  be 
known  ? 

In  the  case  of  other  friends  who  served  us  and  were 
of  profit  to  us  throughout  their  lives,  through  whose 
servdce  we  derived  something  of  our  own  life,  and 
were  in  turn  built  up  to  be  something  to  others — they 
seem  to  be  torn  from  us  by  death.  We  ever  feel  the 
blank  which  the  death  of  our  beloved  leaves  in  our 
life.  The  death  of  our  parents,  teachers,  friends  never 
enriches  us.  We  most  keenly  feel  this  effecfl  of  death 
at  the  departure  of  the  great — statesmen,  poets,  and 

21 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

thinkers — to  whom  we  looked  up,  to  whose  words  we 
listened,  whose  thoughts  guided  us,  whose  instrudlions 
we  followed.  It  happens,  indeed,  that  after  their  de- 
parture that  part  of  them  wanes  which  belongs  to  the 
perishing  flesh  ;  that  that  is  forgotten  which  one  likes 
to  forget  in  order  not  to  darken  the  picflure,  and  which 
rancorous  jealousy  or  selfish  uncharitableness,  which 
can  not  endure  a  great  man,  alone  preserves.  Un- 
troubled by  all  which  belongs  to  his  limitations,  yes, 
even  to  his  sinfulness,  the  picflure  of  him  whom  we 
have  gratefully  known  and  still  revere  comes  before  us. 
We  rejoice  when  his  importance  is  perceived  in  ever 
wider  circles,  and  the  after- effec5ls  of  his  adlivity  and 
the  work  of  his  life  take  ever  more  comprehensive 
shapes.  But  always  it  is  only  the  memorial  pidlure  of 
our  departed  friend  which  abides  with  us  and  which 
we  enjoy. 

But  with  Jesus  it  is  otherwise.  In  the  case  of  other 
friends,  death  is  always  felt  as  the  hard  blow  which  we 
must  accept  without  being  able  to  prevent  it.  We  are 
deprived  of  our  best  friends,  and  we  refledl  that  all 
the  glory  of  men,  our  own  not  excepted,  must  sink 
into  the  grave,  which  gives  nothing  back.  But  it  was 
otherwise  with  Christ.  For  a  short  time,  indeed,  till 
the  third  day,  the  disciples  thought  that  everything 
was  lost.  They  had  precious  recolledlions  of  Him, 
but  recolle(5lions  which  transfigured  not  to  them  His 
picflure,  but  only  filled  them  with  the  deepest  sorrow 
over  their  lost  master — not  only  lost,  but  one  whom 
they  themselves  had  given  up.  But  then  a  day  came 
which  no  one  had  expecfled,  a  day  beginning  with 
terror,  but  which  turned  all  their  fear  into  unspeak- 

22 


THE  APOSTOLIC  MESSAGE 


able  joy,  and  convinced  them  that  nothing  was  lost  ! 
Everything  is  gained  !  The  greatest  wonder  possible, 
forgiveness  of  all  sins,  through  God's  eternal  mercy,  is 
acquired  for  us  !  Streams  of  life  spring  out  from  Gol- 
gotha through  the  world  ;  He,  the  crucified,  has  saved 
us ;  He  died,  but  His  death,  of  which  we  are  the 
cause,  burdens  us  not,  but  rather  sets  us  free  ;  He 
died  that  we  may  have  forgiveness  of  our  sins  ! 

How  was  this  possible  ?  Whence  did  the  disciples 
know  that  ?  How  would  they  make  this  clear  to  the 
world,  to  the  whole  world,  and  thus  also  to  us  ?  How 
would  they  convince  Jews  and  Gentiles  that  at  all 
times  they  might  find  forgiveness  only  in  the  blood  of 
Christ,  the  sacrifice  of  Christ ;  that  in  the  blood  of 
Christ  the  forgiveness  of  all  their  sins  is  really  to  be 
found?  Was  it  possible,  perhaps,  to  convince  those 
whose  evil  work  it  had  been  to  compass  the  death  of 
Jesus  that  this  death,  the  death  of  the  most  innocent 
of  all  martyrs,  will  either  burden  them  forever  with 
unpardonable  guilt,  or  save  them,  if  they  only  remem- 
ber his  patient  sacrifice,  and  are  led  to  repentance? 
But  no  ;  this  sin  was,  after  all,  too  great.  All  blood 
shed  unjustly  could  be  forgiven,  but  not  this.  The 
offense  w^as  so  heavy  that  it  always  asserted  itself 
anew  with  new  power,  even  tho  one  had  for  a  time 
given  himself  up  to  allaying  thoughts.  It  could  not 
be  removed  by  endeavoring  to  consider  the  death  of 
Jesus  under  new  points  of  view.  The  guilt  of  the  dis- 
ciples, their  offense  at  His  death  on  the  cross,  was  still 
greater  than  the  sin  of  the  people  who  had  been  per- 
suaded to  ask  for  Barabbas  and  to  reje(5l  Jesus  with 
the  cry:    "Crucify,  crucify  Him!"     Their  sin  was 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

greater  even  than  that  of  the  rulers  of  the  people  who 
had  judged  him.  They  had  known  Jesus  as  none  of 
the  others,  and  yet  they  had  given  him  up  !  None 
remained  faithful  to  him  ;  none  had  confessed  :  He  is 
nevertheless  the  Messiah  !  Tho  He  is  crucified,  He  is 
the  Messiah  still !  How,  then,  should  they  arrive  at 
the  thought  that  not  only  is  the  sin  of  the  w^orld  for- 
given, but  all  their  sin  ?  True  that  Jesus  said  on  the 
evening  before  His  death,  wdien  He  instituted  the 
Lord's  Supper:  ''This  is  my  body,  my  blood,  given 
and  shed  for  you  for  the  remission  of  sin  "  ;  but  did 
this  also  include  that  sin  which  was  the  crown  and 
climax  of  all  the  sins  that  otherwise  they  had  sinned 
against  Jesus  ?  Merely  their  thoughts  could  not  give 
them  the  remission  of  sin.  There  must  be  the  reality, 
the  a(5lual  remission,  the  very  taking  away  of  their 
real  guilt,  the  real  not-reckoning  of  their  adtual  sin. 
How  was  it  possible  to  obtain  the  convi(5lion  of  the 
blotting  out  of  all  their  guilt  through  Christ's  death 
on  the  cross,  through  the  blood  of  the  cross  ? — a  facfl 
which  we  afterward  hear  testified,  nevertheless,  from 
their  owm  mouths. 

There  can  be  but  one  answer :  They  had  expe- 
rienced the  forgiveness,  this  incredible  thing,  as 
reality.  Wonderful  it  must  indeed  be,  yet  is  it  really 
and  adlually  forgiveness  of  their  sins.  For  the  first 
time  something  had  taken  place  which  had  never  thus 
before  taken  place  since  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
Christ  Jesus,  crucified,  dead,  and  buried,  had  risen. 
Not  like  the  dead  whom  He  once  raised  and  gave  back 
to  their  own  ;  He  w^as  raised  from  the  dead  through 
the  glory  of  the  Father.     Not  by  His  creative  word  by 

24 


THE  APOSTOLIC  MESSAGE 


which  He  called  the  world  into  existence,  but  by  His 
redeevihig  word.  Unto  the  deepest  depth  of  misery 
and  death  Christ  had  become  like  us,  and  w^eak  and 
helpless  He  descended  into  the  world  of  the  dead. 
There  it  turned  out  that  the  cords  of  death  could  not 
hold  Him.  The  condition  of  death  was  removed  by 
the  power  of  God,  who  is  mightier  than  the  power  and 
might  of  all  men.  It  is  precisely  through  the  death  of 
His  Son  that  God  proves  Himself  the  living  God,  not 
to  be  prevented  by  all  the  devices  of  men  from  execut- 
ing His  will — above  all,  His  will  of  love  toward 
men.  He  who  was  buried  left  His  grave  for  the  sake 
of  His  brethren,  for  their  benefit.  This  was  the  Divine 
justification  which  fell  to  His  lot.  He  was  right,  the 
whole  world  was  wrong.  It  could  not  even  accom- 
plish what  it  otherwise  does  to  every  one  whom  it  can 
not  tolerate — deliver  Him  to  death  once  for  all.  Its 
power  reached  to  the  cross  and  the  sepulcher,  but  no 
further.  Jesus  rose  from  death,  and  went  to  His 
brethren  to  salute  them  with  His  salutation  of  peace. 
The  first  impression  that  His  appearance  made  was 
terror  and  fright.  It  could  not  have  been  otherwise. 
The  women  that  had  come  to  anoint  His  body — this 
was  indeed  the  only  thing  which  they  could  do,  and 
was  at  the  same  time  a  sign  that  they  too  had  lost 
Wmx  faith — fled  from  the  grave.  They  felt  as  if  the 
great  day  of  God's  judgment  had  come  over  the  world. 
The  disciples  that  walked  with  Him  down  to  Emmaus 
said  :  ' '  Certain  women  of  our  company  amazed  us, 
having  been  early  at  the  tomb,  and  when  they  found 
not  His  body  they  came,  saying  that  they  had  also 
'  seen  a  vision  of  angels  which  said   that   He  was 

25 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

alive.'  "  But  when  Jesus  Himself  appears  unto  them, 
when  He  comes  to  them  unimpeded  through  closed 
doors,  a  Lord  full  of  power  and  glory,  everything 
changes. 

That  the  dead  should  rise  up  was  a  common  belief 
in  Israel.  It  is  thus  expressed  in  the  book  of  the 
prophet  Daniel :  ' '  Many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the 
dust  of  the  earth  shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting  life, 
and  some  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt. "  The 
pi6lure  which  Isaiah  used  of  the  deliverance  of  Israel : 
''Thy  dead  shall  live;  awake  and  sing,  ye  that  dwell 
in  the  dust,"  was  taken  from  the  language  of  the 
future  reality  in  which  one  hoped.  Ezekiel's  vision 
of  the  field  full  of  bones  which  became  alive  again 
through  the  spirit  of  the  Lord,  treated  of  the  same 
deliverance,  but  was  nevertheless  only  possible  to  a 
people  to  whom  a  future  resurre(5lion  was  so  self- 
evident  that  only  supercilious  persons  like  the  eminent 
Sadducees  could  despise  it.  Now  Jesus  is  said  to 
have  risen  from  the  dead.  Has  the  day  of  judgment, 
then — the  last  day— really  come  ?  They  should  not  be 
surprised,  for  the  sense  of  their  guilt  and  of  their 
being  involved  in  the  sin  of  the  whole  world  is  too 
powerful.  But  the  Lord  w^as  said  to  have  risen  and 
to  have  appeared  unto  Simon.  But  not  this  alone;  He 
was  with  the  disciples,  had  appeared  unto  them,  while 
the  doors  were  shut.  It  is  not  the  last  day  which 
dawned  on  the  Easter  morning,  but  a  day  of  grace, 
first  for  the  disciples,  who  had  Him  with  them  again 
and  with  Him  everything  which  they  ever  had  be- 
lieved and  hoped  for,  and  still  more.  But  Thomas  is 
still  doubting,  for  he  can  not  believe  that  Jesus  should 

26 


THE  APOSTOLIC  MESSAGE 


have  returned  again  from  death  to  those  who  had  de- 
nied and  forsaken  Him.  Resurredlion  of  the  dead, 
yes,  this  he  beheves — also  that  one  can  acSlually  rise 
from  the  dead,  for  he  himself  had  lately  seen  the  re- 
suscitation of  Lazarus.  But  a  resurrecftion  of  Jesus, 
which  is  not  the  sign  of  judgment,  is  too  much  for 
him.  But  Jesus,  who  was  crucified,  dead,  buried, 
and  yet  risen  again,  appears  to  him  also,  and  asks  him 
to  see  and  to  feel  that  it  is  really  He,  and  to  say  unto 
himself :  ' '  Now  we  have  Jesus  again  !  now  all  is  for- 
given ! ' '  For  ' '  blessed  are  they  that  have  not  seen  and 
yet  have  believed" — believed  as  the  disciples  have 
hitherto  believed,  and  as  Peter  has  confessed  it  for  the 
disciples,  and  as  Jesus  always  desired  it;  not  the  mere 
fadt  of  His  resurre(5lion,  but  this  facfl  in  and  with  its 
meaning.  Otherwise  one  may  indeed  perish  with  and 
without  acknowledgment  of  this  fadl,  or  may  try  to 
persuade  himself  of  the  importance  of  the  forgiveness 
without  the  fa(5l  of  the  resurre(5lion — an  impossible 
thing,  just  as  impossible  as  the  indwelling  of  Christ  in 
our  hearts,  except  *  *  the  word  had  become  flesh  and 
dwelt  among  us."  It  means  to  believe  that  now 
as  never  before  it  has  become  manifest  that  * '  God  sent 
not  His  Son  into  the  world  to  judge  the  world,  but 
that  the  world  should  be  saved  through  Him. ' '  Thus 
the  disciples  experience  and  learn  the  acflual  forgive- 
ness of  sins  procured  through  Christ's  innocent  and 
patient  suffering  and  death,  brought  to  light  by  the 
resurre(5lion,  appropriated  to  them  or  effecfluated  in 
them  through  the  peace  salutation  of  the  risen  One. 
Then  was  confirmed  on  the  day  of  Pentecost  the  par- 
doning of  the  world  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  who 

27 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

ever  since  confirms  everywhere  the  word  concerning 
Christ,  and  of  our  redemption  through  Him,  as  Paul, 
Peter,  and  John  unanimously  testify.  They  have  not 
lost  the  Savior,  the  Redeemer,  as  they  first  thought, 
but  have  Him  back  and  now  have  Him  forever.  In 
this  nothing  is  changed  by  His  ascension,  for  this  de- 
parture only  means  that  Jesus  must  occupy  heaven 
and  wait  at  the  right  hand  of  God  till  the  Gospel  con- 
cerning Him  is  preached  in  the  whole  world.  Noth- 
ing and  no  one  can  deprive  the  disciples  of  their  Savior. 
It  is  God's  wondrous  grace  which  gave  Him  back 
again  to  them — not  too  wondrous  to  him  who  is  ready 
to  believe  the  most  wondrous  of  all :  the  forgiveness  of 
his  sins.  But  to  believe  this  is  entirely  impossible  to 
him  whose  thinking  and  imagining  and  believing  is 
utterly  bound  to  the  connedlion  of  the  things  in  nature 
and  history.  One  can  only  believe  it  as  a  deed 
which  God  did  in  connedlion  with  another  history — 
as  it  happens  otherwise,  that  very  history  in  which  the 
sentence  becomes  adlually  operative  :  ' '  where  sin 
abounded,  grace  did  abound  more  exceedingly. ' '  God 
pardons,  Jesus  pardons;  all  sin,  all  unfaithfulness  is 
forgiven.  Jesus  is  risen  not  only  to  inform  the  dis- 
ciples of  it,  but  the  forgiveness  is  thus  effedluated  in 
men,  for  whom  He  died.  As  Paul  says  :  "  Christ  was 
delivered  up  for  our  trespasses,  and  was  raised  for  our 
justification." 

Thus  it  follows  that  Christ  suffered  and  died  in  order 
that  the  world  should  not  be  condemned,  which  had 
deserved  to  be  condemned  for  what  it  had  wrought  on 
Him,  and  ever  and  ever  deserves  to  be  condemned. 
Instead,  because  the  world  was  condemnod,  He  suffered 


THE  APOSTOLIC  MESSAGE 


death.  This  was  the  Father's  premeditated  counsel 
and  will,  as  Peter  expresses  it.  Jesus,  rejecfled  by  the 
world,  has  not  forever  departed  from  the  world.  He  is 
rather  given  back  by  the  Father  to  our  human  life  and 
thus  to  the  world.  In  this  living  Jesus,  belonging  to 
us,  we  have  the  forgiveness  of  sins  for  the  sake  of 
His  suffering  and  death.  His  suffering  and  death, 
His  crucifixion  by  the  hands  of  men,  took  place  after 
the  foreordained  counsel  and  will  of  God,  and  cleanses 
us  from  all  sins,  covers  all  our  guilt.  For  our  sake 
it  came  about,  that  we  might  not  be  condemned.  This 
was  the  price  for  our  deliverance  from  judgment. 
Thus  we  are  children  of  God,  or  acceptable  with  God, 
and  this  concerns  us,  the  whole  race.  * '  Herein  was 
the  love  of  God  manifested  in  us,  that  God  hath  sent 
His  only  begotten  Son  into  the  world,  that  we  might 
live  through  Him,"  saith  John.  Paul  saith:  ''God 
commendeth  His  own  love  tow^ard  us,  in  that,  w^hile 
we  were  yet  sinners,  Christ  died  for  us.  Much  more, 
then,  being  now  justified  by  His  blood,  shall  we 
be  saved  from  the  wrath  through  Him.  For  if,  while 
we  were  enemies,  we  were  reconciled  to  God  through 
the  death  of  His  Son,  much  more,  being  reconciled, 
shall  we  be  saved  by  His  life,"  It  is  of  great  signifi- 
cance that  we  hear  and  believe  the  truth  of  the  won- 
drous message,  that  we  know  and  receive  the  fadl, 
apply  it  to  ourselves,  and  say  :  We  are  redeemed,  / 
am  redeemed;  we  are  pardoned,  /am  pardoned!  Who- 
ever hears  this  message  hears  God's  words,  God's 
voice,  which  calls  him  to  Jesus.  Whoever  believes  it, 
believes  in  God  and  believes  in  Jesus,  who  is  now 
something  to  us  that  no  other  man  can  be,  something, 

29 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

indeed,  which  no  brother  could  be  to  his  brother.  For 
He  is  our  redeemer,  our  deliverer  from  judgment. 
This  no  one  can  be,  not  even  a  mother  for  her  child. 
Tho,  in  fadl,  He  is  our  brother,  fully  like  hs,  member 
of  our  communion,  yet  is  He  our  Lord,  the  only  One 
in  whom  we  can  trust  before  the  face  of  God.  He  suf- 
fered because  of  us,  but  not  only  because  of  us  but  at 
the  same  time  with  us,  and  not  only  with  us  but  for 
us  in  our  stead,  when  judgment  was  to  come  upon  us. 
What  our  sin  and  guilt  has  imposed  upon  us  to  suffer 
He  bore  ;  it  was  imposed  upon  Him,  and  thereby  He 
redeemed  us  from  the  curse.  There  shall  come  a  day, 
however,  when  He  will  visibly  also  manifest  before  all 
the  world  that  He  is  the  Lord  over  all,  over  the  des- 
tiny of  the  whole  world,  unto  whom  the  Father  has 
delivered  all  things.  For  as  He  has  ascended  to 
heaven  and  gone  back  to  God  (who  is  not  only  in 
this  world,  but  also  beyond  it  and  above  it),  thus 
Jesus  shall  some  day  also  return  and  appear  in  this 
world  as  one  who  is  above  it,  and  yet  will  still  be  as 
He  has  ever  been,  our  comrade  and  brother.  This, 
however,  will  take  place  only  when  His  command  has 
been  executed  after  God's  will  and  His  Gospel,  the 
Gospel  of  His  cross  and  resurredlion  for  us,  the  Gospel 
of  its  redemption,  has  been  preached  to  the  whole  world. 
There  is  a  forgiveness  of  sins,  there  is  a  deliverance 
from  judgment  and  punishment,  there  is  a  redemption 
only  in  Christ's  sufferings,  death,  and  resurredlion, 
only  in  the  crucified  and  risen  Jesus.  He  is  the 
Christ,  the  Anointed  and  Messenger  of  God,  to  our 
whole  race. 

Thus  it  happens  that  those  who  believe  in  Him 

30 


THE  APOSTOLIC  MESSAGE 


acknowledge  Him  also  as  their  Lord.  He  is  one  who 
forever  has  the  destiny  of  us  all  in  His  hand.  He  has 
redeemed  us  with  His  own  precious  blood  and  now 
lives  and  makes  intercCvSsion  for  us,  and  always  saves 
those  who  come  to  God  through  Him.  But  if  He 
is  the  Lord,  if  He  saves  those  who  come  to  God 
through  Him,  one  understands  that  His  believers 
may  pray  to  Him.  We  understand  that  the  designa- 
tion, *'  All- that-call-upon-the-name-of-the-Lord- Jesus- 
Christ,"  is  the  oldest  name  of  those  who  believe  in 
Him  as  the  Messiah.  The  addressing  of  prayer  to 
Jesus  is  just  the  mark  that  distinguishes  belief  in  the 
Messiah  from  the  unbelief  of  Israel,  and  this  mark  re- 
mains even  among  the  Gentiles  for  those  who  are  con- 
verted to  Christ.  But  if  He  is  a  being  to  whom  one 
prays,  tho^He  is  our  brother  He  is  nevertheless  also 
our  God  and  Lord,  for  one  can  pray  only  to  Him  who 
is  God  and  Lord.  But  prayer  is  made  to  Him  not  be- 
cause He  became  so  much  more  than  we,  for  none  can 
become  a  God;  but  because  He  who  is  and  was  our 
God  and  Lord  became  our  brother,  entirely  man,  that 
nothing  more  may  separate  us  from  Him.  In  His 
love  He  holds  everything,  even  Himself,  for  us.  He 
became  wholly  man,  flesh,  as  we  are,  altho  He  is  God 
over  all  things,  blessed  forever!  He  is  not  a  man  that 
has  beeil,  but  what  He  was  while  on  earth  He  is  still, 
only  not,  as  He  then  was,  confined  to  a  certain  place,  but 
now^  unbounded,  everywhere  that  one  pra3^s  to  Him. 
He  belongs  to  us  with  a  completeness  with  which  no 
other  belongs  to  us.  He  belongs  to  us  as  God  only 
belongs  to  us,  and  we  belong  to  Him  as  we  belong  to 
God,  before  whom  w^e  must  appear  and  before  whom 

31 


THE  ESSKNCK  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

we  should  walk.  We  stand  in  communion  with  Him 
as  we  stand  in  communion  with  God,  the  Father  of 
our  lyord  Jesus  Christ,  and  this  has  not  become  less 
because  it  is  a  communion  of  love  transcending  all 
conceivable  measure  in  that  He  partook  of  our  flesh 
and  blood,  but  rather  greater  and  more  significant. 
He,  our  brother,  stands  before  us  as  the  Son 
of  God,  whom  the  Father  has  chosen  as  the  redeemer 
of  the  world,  with  whom  the  Father  shares  everything 
and  who  shares  everything  with  the  Father.  He  is 
the  eternal  Son  of  God,  who  belongs  to  God,  as  the 
son  to  the  father.  God  and  man  at  the  same  time  ; 
whether  we  apprehend  it  or  not.  He  is  both.  We 
can  not  think  of  Him  as  He  lies  before  us  in  the 
manger,  hangs  before  us  on  the  cross,  stands  before 
us  as  the  risen  One,  otherwise  than  of  One  who, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  God  and  Lord  over  all,  to 
whom  we  pray  and  in  whom  we  hope.  He  is 
with  the  Father  now,  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of 
the  Majesty,  exalted,  just  as  He  was  with  the  Father 
in  glory  before  He  came  into  the  world  to  suffer 
and  to  die  for  us  and  because  of  us.  This  is  the  pur- 
port of  His  own  words:  ' '  I  came  forth  from  the  Father, 
and  am  come  into  the  world;  again,  I  leave  the  world, 
and  go  to  the  Father. ' '  What  He  came  to  do  and 
must  do  was  done  and  finished  when  He  suffered 
and  died  for  us.  Now  He  is  raised  and  lives  forever, 
lives  for  us,  and  makes  intercession  for  us.  That  we 
do  not  see  Him  since  He  ascended  is  because  He  has 
patience  with  the  world,  which  knows  Him  not  yet, 
and  which  is  to  know  Him  through  the  brethren  whom 
He  has  won.  Only  when  the  whole  world  knows  of 
32 


THE  APOSTOLIC  MESSAGE 


Him  and  has  the  offer  in  Him  of  redemption  through 
His  blood,  will  He  come  again  in  His  glory  and  in  the 
glory  of  the  Father  to  unite  unto  Himself  the  con- 
gregation of  those  who  believe  in  Him  and  to  unite 
as  well  Himself  unto  them.  Then  only  shall  we  see 
what  we  have  believed. 

Thus  the  apostles  proclaim  Christ,  who  is  our  God 
and  Lord,  and  yet  our  brother,  or  who  is  our  brother 
and  yet  at  the  same  time  time  our  God  and  Lord.  Of 
Him  Paul  says  not  only:  "  For  ye  know  the  grace  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that,  tho  he  was  rich,  yet  for 
your  sakes  He  became  poor,  that  ye  through  His 
poverty  might  be  rich  "  ;  he  speaks  still  more 
plainly:  "  Who,  being  in  the  form  of  God,  counted  it 
not  a  prize  to  be  on  an  equality  with  God,  but  emptied 
Himself,  taking  the  form  of  a  servant,  being  made  in 
the  likeness  of  men;  and  being  found  in  fashion  as  a 
man,  He  humbled  Himself,  becoming  obedient  even 
unto  death,  yea,  the  death  of  the  cross.  Wherefore 
also  God  highly  exalted  Him,  and  gave  unto  Him  the 
name  which  is  above  every  name,  that  in  the  name  of 
Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven  and 
things  on  earth  and  things  under  the  earth,  and  that 
every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord, 
to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father."  This  is  the  Christ, 
"whose  are  the  fathers,  and  of  whom  He  is,  as  con- 
cerning the  flesh,  who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  forever. ' ' 
This  Christ  was  indeed  born  like  ourselves,  and  carried 
the  potency  of  death  in  His  mortal  flesh;  nevertheless. 
He  was  not  born  subjedt  to  death  by  necessity  as  we 
are,  but  He  was  born  into  the  flesh  that  He  might  of 
His  own  will  die,  and,  dying,  bring  to  naught  by  His 

33 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


death  him  who  had  the  power  of  death.  In  this 
Christ  everything  has  been  manifested  to  us  which 
God  has  to  say  to  us,  or  ever  is  or  will  be  for  us. 
God's  word  and  the  Christ :  God's  eternal  word, 
p  wer,  and  law  of  our  existence,  and  He,  the  eternal 
Son,  can  not  be  separated  from  each  other.  When  I 
think  of  Him  I  think  of  all  that  God  has  to  say  to 
me,  and  when  I  think  of  God's  word  I  think  of 
Jesus,  the  Savior,  the  Messiah,  the  Redeemer.  He  is 
the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and  forever.  He  **  upholds 
all  things  by  the  word  of  His  power."  He  was  ere 
the  world  was,  which  from  the  beginning  is  dependent 
on  Him,  can  only  be  and  exist  through  Him.  At 
length  He  came — "the  word  became  flesh  and  dwelt 
among  us."  In  the  light  which  arose  to  the  apostle 
John  concerning  Him,  the  days  of  His  earthly  life  now 
stand  before  our  eyes.  What  He  did  and  spoke  are 
the  deeds  and  words  of  Him  who  was  chosen  from 
eternity  to  be  the  Savior  of  the  world.  This  divinity 
shines  through  the  lowliness  of  the  Son  of  Man,  and 
therefore  he  saith:  ''We  beheld  His  glory,  glory  as  of 
the  only  begotten  from  the  Father,  full  of  grace  and 
truth."  For  neither  John  nor  anyone  else  has  ever 
perceived  how  deeply  God  has  humbled  Himself,  to 
take  forever  and  fully  an  interest  in  us  and  to  belong 
to  us. 

True,  it  was  only  by  looking  backward  from  the 
resurredlion  that  the  apostles  were  able  to  see  very 
clearly  into  this  mystery  of  Christ.  Ever  and  ever 
they  had  waited  until  He  should  accomplish  His  great 
redeeming  deed,  and  they  had  not  understood  why 
(as  they  thought)  He  did  not  do  it,  but  rather  suffered 

34 


THE  APOSTOI.IC  MESSAGE 


Himself  to  be  misappreciated,  wronged,  and  oppressed. 
Now  they  knew  a  little  why  His  whole  life  was  a  con- 
tinued humiliation  and  what  was  meant  by  the  words, 
"  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart. ' '  Now  His  humil- 
ity, His  modesty.  His  lowliness,  His  patience  in  His 
innocent  suffering  and  death  were  to  them  the  proof  of 
His  everlasting  love  as  their  Savior.  He,  the  great  King 
and  lyord  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  risen  Prince  of  Vic- 
tory, having  the  keys  of  death  and  hell,  would  not 
use  this  His  eternal  power  and  Godhead  against  us. 
He  would  not  be  God  against  us,  but  for  us.  He 
would  be  all  that  He  is  for  us,  and  share  with  us  all 
things.  On  this  account  His  suffering  and  death,  the 
end  of  His  entire  life  full  of  suffering,  necessarily  be- 
long to  His  vocation  as  a  Savior.  He  only  could  fulfil 
this  His  calling,  the  objedl  for  which  He  came,  till, 
according  to  the  will  of  His  Father,  He  suffered  all 
that  the  world  with  its  sin  could  do  to  the  Holy  One 
of  God.  There  it  was  not  only  proved  but  visibly 
demonstrated  that  the  sin  of  the  world  is  no  longer 
imputed  unto  it.  God  stepped  in  for  Him  and  justi- 
fied Him  by  raising  Him  from  the  dead,  not  for  con- 
demnation upon  the  world,  but  that  He  should  deal 
with  it  as  the  everlasting,  almighty  Savior.  For  He 
who  is  to  deliver  us  from  death  and  judgment,  and 
not  let  us  perish  eternally,  must  be  almighty.  But 
He  is  almighty  ;  the  disciples  have  learned  and  now 
they  know  that  what  they  did  not  have  in  Him  before, 
they  have  now,  and  have  forever. 

This  is  the  testimony  of  the  apostles  concerning  Him. 
This  is  what  they  believed  who  became  pioneers  in 
Christianity  and  in  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  in   the 

35 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIAKTITY 

possession  of  the  Spirit  of  Christ.  How  it  was  possible 
to  believe  such  things,  for  this  they  cared  not,  because 
the  most  unconceivable  fadl  which  can  be  imagined 
had  been  offered  and  experienced  in  this  announce- 
ment :  forgiveness  of  sins,  life  and  blessedness. 
Whether  this  is  conceivable,  whether  it  can  be  attained 
by  a  power  of  our  thoughts  or  is  to  be  received  only 
as  a  gift  of  grace — of  these  questions  we  shall  treat  later 
on.  Here  we  are  concerned  only  to  state  this  sequence 
of  faith:  forgiveness  of  our  sins  through  the  eternal 
Son  of  God,  the  man  Jesus,  who  for  our  sakes  and  for 
our  pardon  became  flesh. 


3G 


Ill 


THE  RECORD  OF  CHRIST  ACCORDING  TO  THE 
SYNOPTIC  ACCOUNT 


LI.  that  we  know  of  Christ  rests  on  the  testi- 
mony of  the  apostles.  They  speak  and 
testify  of  the  things  which  they  saw  and 
heard,  that  * '  we  may  have  fellowship  with 
them,"  and  that  our  "fellowship  be  with  the 
Father  and  with  His  Son  Jesus  Christ."  They 
attest  it  not  as  disinterested  witnesses,  but  as  wit- 
nesses who  also  understand  the  importance  of  all 
which  they  had  experienced,  and  who  wish  to  help 
us  to  a  like  understanding  and  possession.  We  have 
no  other  testimonies  concerning  Jesus,  His  earthly 
life.  His  work,  and  His  suffering.  The  non-Biblical 
literature  of  Israel  contains  no  mention  of  His  name, 
but  speaks  of  Him  as  the  ' '  One  who  was  hanged, ' ' 
whose  ''name  and  memory  should  be  blotted  out." 
Thus  we  have  only  the  testimonies  of  believing  Israel- 
ites, who,  with  the  whole  first  community,  proved 
their  Christianity  by  remaining  in  the  teaching  of  the 
apostles.  Therefore,  our  Gospels,  in  so  far  as  the  apos- 
tles themselves  had  no  diredl  part  in  their  composition, 
are  only  records  of  the  apostolic  testimony  to  Christ. 
We  detedl  in  them  also  the  work  of  the  entire  believ- 
ing community,  in  which  the  same  witness  concerning 
Him  was  always  present.  We  shall  not,  therefore, 
expedl  that  the  picfture  contained  in  the  Gospel  of  the 

37 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

earthly  life,  work,  and  suffering  of  Christ  should 
essentially  differ  from  that  which  we  have  drawn  from 
the  apostolic  epistles.  It  is  possible  that  this  pidlure, 
or  both  pidlures,  may  suggest  a  number  of  considera- 
tions which  we  may  have  to  explain.  Before  this, 
however,  we  must  endeavor  accurately  to  pi6ture  to 
ourselves  what  is  recorded  of  Christ. 

The  whole  appearance  and  work  of  Jesus  stand 
clearly  before  the  eyes  of  the  disciples.  They  know 
what  has  attrac5led  them  to  Him,  and  what  has  united 
them  to  Him,  and  they  know  it  now  the  better,  since 
in  consequence  of  the  resurrection  not  only  many  things 
that  had  been  riddles  have  become  clear  to  them,  but 
also  many  a  word  which  they  had  forgotten,  or  whose 
depth  and  power  they  had  hitherto  not  yet  grasped, 
now  appears  to  them  in  its  entire  blessed  importance. 
Everything  came  vividly  before  their  minds  again. 
Their  reminiscences  enriched  themselves  the  more  they 
spoke  of  Him,  who  was  their  one  and  all,  and  thus 
was  fulfilled  in  them  the  word  which  Jesus  had  spoken 
of  the  Spirit  whom  He  was  to  send  to  them  :  *  *  The 
same  shall  bring  to  3^our  remembrance  all  that  I  said 
unto  you."  The  more  they  became  absorbed  therein 
the  clearer  became  in  them  the  pidlure  of  Him  to  whom 
they  were  united,  whom  they  had  lost  and  now  had 
fourd  again  forever,  even  tho  they  were  on  earth  and 
He  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  exalted  to  participation 
in  God's  power  and  majesty. 

Their  reminiscences,  however,  reach  further  back 
than  to  the  appearance  of  Jesus.  In  all  Israel  there 
are  those  who  are  awakened  by  the  appearance  of  a 
prophet,  the  sign  that  God  had  some  special  message 

38 


THE   SYNOPTIC   ACCOUNT 


for  His  people.  Thus,  as  we  read  in  Amos  :  * '  Surely 
the  Lord  God  will  do  nothing,  but  He  revealeth  His 
secrets  unto  His  servants,  the  prophets."  That  John 
the  Baptist  was  a  prophet  of  God  was  an  undoubted 
fa(5l.  Nothing  entitled  him  in  the  conditions  then 
present  to  the  conclusion  that  the  time  of  the  fulfil- 
ment of  all  the  promises  of  God  was  at  hand.  One 
thing  he  could  have  said  without  being  a  prophet : 
' '  Repent ' ' ;  for  this  every  serious  Israelite  could  de- 
mand of  every  coreligionist — yes,  of  the  w^hole  people. 
But  the  rationale  for  this  demand,  "for  the  King- 
dom of  God,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  is  at  hand," 
how  establish  this  ?  And  how  is  it  that  John  assumes 
the  right  not  only  to  symbolize  but  at  the  same  time 
to  warrant  the  forgiveness  of  their  sins  to  those  who 
repent — an  office  wholly  outside  of  his  regular  priestly 
calling  and  outside  of  the  lawful  order  ?  What  gave  him 
the  right  to  ask  penitents  to  come  to  him  and  be  baptized, 
instead  of  pointing  them  to  the  temple  and  to  the 
priests  ?  How  did  he  know  that  One  was  to  come  after 
him,  yes,  was  already  present,  who,  mightier  than 
himself,  had  already  the  fan  in  the  hand  with  which 
He  will  thoroughly  cleanse  His  threshing-floor?  And 
yet  John's  words  were  believed,  not,  indeed,  by  the  ofii- 
cial  representatives  of  religion — the  priests,  skeptical 
minded  and  altogether  unbelieving;  the  performers  of 
religion,  the  "  respecflable  "  Pharisees  and  scribes — but 
by  the  people,  by  the  great  multitude,  and  most 
readily  by  those  among  them  wdio,  in  their  deepest 
soul,  longed  after  the  salvation  of  God.  How  could 
they  believe  him  ?  How  was  it  that,  as  it  seems,  no 
one  publicly  appeared  against  the  Baptist  ?   What  recon- 

39 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

ciled  the  people  was  the  union,  in  John's  message,  of 
judgment  and  grace,  the  call  to  repentance  founded 
upon  the  nearness  of  God  and  the  fulfilment  of  His 
promises.  The  prophet  was  right  with  his  call  and  in 
the  promise  that  supplied  to  the  hearer  a  sufficient 
motive  for  accepting  it.  The  promise,  however,  with 
which  he  reinforced  his  call  to  repentance,  and  which 
he  symbolized  in  baptism,  he  had  by  revelation  from 
God,  for  ''the  word  of  God  came  unto  John,  the  son  of 
Zacharias,  in  the  wilderness. ' ' 

In  the  power  of  this  word  of  God,  as  a  command 
which  had  been  given  to  Him,  as  a  revelation  which 
He  had  received.  He  appeared.  The  law  had  not  ful- 
filled its  purpose  ;  it  had  not  been  kept,  nor  was  it 
now  kept,  not  even  by  those  who  made  it  their  calling 
to  study  and  to  fulfil  it.  On  this  account  it  could 
neither  actually,  nor  even  yet  symbolically,  give  what 
it  promised.  The  entire  temple  service,  that  service 
for  which  the  Psalmist  so  heartily  longed  when  he 
desired  * '  to  behold  the  beauty  of  the  Lord  and  to 
inquire  in  His  temple, ' '  had  become  useless.  There 
was  only  one  thing  which  thus  far  had  been  Israel's 
consolation:  the  grace  of  God,  by  which  Israel  had 
been  chosen,  and  on  which  alone  Israel's  right  rested 
to  come  to  God  in  repentance  and  to  ask  for  forgive- 
ness. Was  this  still  valid  ?  God  was  not  obliged  to 
keep  His  promises  after  Israel  had  shown  in  its  long 
history  that  it  did  not  fulfil  the  conditions  under  which 
the  promise  of  the  future  had  been  made.  Then  Israel 
had  been  the  chosen  people.  Many  a  time  has  all 
their  hope  in  the  future  seemed  to  be  at  an  end,  but 
God's  faithfulness  had  alwaj^s  been  greater  than  the 

40 


THE  SYNOPTIC  ACCOUNT 


sill  of  the  people,  in  accordance  with  the  word : 
"Where  sin  abounded,  grace  did  abound  more  ex- 
ceedingly." This  and  this  alone  explained  the  past 
history  of  Israel,  the  only  people  upon  earth  who 
knew  the  living  God  to  whom  He  had  made  Himself 
specially  known.  But  would  the  promise  still  abide 
with  them  ?  During  the  four  hundred  years  since  the 
old  inclination  toward  idolatry  had  been  exterminated, 
the  incongruity  between  the  high,  special,  religious 
privileges  of  Israel,  and  the  lack  of  seriousness  which 
it  should  naturally  have  practised,  had  become  con- 
stantly more  glaring.  Now  the  time  of  the  last  final 
settlement  seemed  to  have  come. 

Then  resounded  the  message  of  the  Baptist.  It  read 
not :  ' '  The  end  has  come,  the  wrath  of  God  is  kindled, 
and  will  eat  His  people  as  the  tongue  of  fire  devoureth 
the  stubble,"  but,  on  the  contrary,  *'The  Kingdom, 
the  kingly  rule  of  God,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  at 
hand  ! ' '  For  this  Israel  had  waited  and  hoped  a  long 
time.  "How  beautiful  upon  the  mountains  are  the 
feet  of  Him  that  bringeth  good  tidings,  that  publish- 
eth  peace,  that  bringeth  good  tidings  of  good,  that 
publisheth  salvation,  that  saith  unto  Zion,  Thy  God 
reigneth  !  "  Thus  Isaiah  had  prophesied,  for  God  is 
Israel's  King,  and  therefore  his  Savior.  When  His 
hour  has  come  He  will  prove  Himself  King  by 
judging  the  nations,  as  He  did  when  He  led  Israel 
up  out  of  Egypt,  and  brought  it  to  the  place  of 
His  habitation.  The  nations  which  oppress  Israel 
experience  God's  superiority,  for  Israel's  King  has 
the  mastery  over  all  the  world  ;  He  subdues  the 
nations  and  gives  liberty  and  peace  to  Israel.     Zion 

41 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

shall  be  the  center  of  the  world,  whither  all  nations 
shall  flow  together,  to  receive  there  their  law.  Jeru- 
salem is  the  city  of  a  great  King,  the  seat  of  God's 
glory.  '  *  Say  among  the  nations,  the  lyOrd  reigneth  : 
He  Cometh,  He  cometh  to  judge  the  earth.  He  shall 
judge  the  world  with  righteousness,  and  the  people 
with  His  truth.  lyight  is  sown  for  the  righteous,  and 
gladness  for  the  upright  in  heart,"  we  read  in  the 
Psalms.  This  was  the  Kingship  and  Kingdom  of  God 
which  appeared  in  Nebuchadnezzar's  dream  as  a  stone, 
cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  hands,  which  smote 
the  image  of  the  monarchies  upon  the  feet  and  broke 
them  in  pieces.  Then  was  the  iron,  the  clay,  the 
brass,  the  silver,  and  the  gold  broken  in  pieces 
together,  and  became  like  the  chaff  of  the  summer 
threshing-floors ;  and  the  wind  carried  them  away, 
that  no  place  was  found  for  them  ;  "  and  the  stone 
that  smote  the  image  became  a  great  mountain,  and 
filled  the  whole  earth."  This  was  the  people's  hope, 
in  this  John  hoped.  That  it  should  come  now,  that 
all  promises  of  God,  the  promises  of  redemption,  of 
liberty  and  peace,  should  now  be  fulfilled,  this  he 
knew  through  God's  revelation.  In  no  place  in  the 
history  of  Israel  does  it  become  so  clear  and  evident 
as  here  that  there  has  been  vouchsafed  a  special  reve- 
lation. That  which  was  neither  indicated  by  the 
social  conditions  of  the  time,  nor  to  be  read  in 
the  closed  orbits  of  the  stars,  that  which  not  even 
the  most  penetrating  knowledge  of  God  had  been  able 
to  disclose  to  man,  that  which  was  contrary  to  all  the 
expecftations  of  the  godly  and  the  ungodly,  the  just 
and   unjust — namely,    that    now,    noiv,    in  the    time 

42 


THE   SYNOPTIC   ACCOUNT 


appointed  by  God,  the  day  of  salvation  had  come 
-this  was  made  known  to  John.  The  contrary 
of  all  that  one  could  expec5l  has  come  to  pass,  and 
the  appearance  of  the  Messiah  justified  the  word, 
justified  therewith  also  the  deed  of  the  Baptist.  To  all 
Israel,  John  was  the  prophet  of  God,  the  voice  of  the 
preacher  in  the  wilderness,  and  the  wilderness  in 
which  he  appeared  chara(5lerized  him  as  this  prophet. 
All  Israel  went  out  unto  him,  to  hear  his  word,  to  adl 
according  to  his  word  in  confessing  its  sins  and  re- 
ceiving baptism,  and  to  look  for  the  fulfilment  of  his 
prophecy.  For  the  chief  significance  of  John's  mes- 
sage was  the  promise  of  deliverance  from  sin  and 
guilt,  to  attest  which  was  the  Baptist's  office. 

Thither  came  Jesus  also.  John  knew  Him  not,  but 
by  necessity  he  must  recognize  Him,  since  as  prophet 
of  God  and  forerunner  of  the  Messiah  he  had  received 
the  Divine  vocation  of  testifying  of  Him  and  for  Him. 
His  relationship  to  Jesus  had  afforded  him  knowledge 
neither  of  His  person  nor  of  His  calling.  Jesus  had 
grown  up  in  Galilee  unknown  and  unrecognized;  John, 
in  Judea,  as  the  son  of  a  priest  and  heir  of  the  paternal 
office.  When  Jesus  appeared,  John  perceived  through 
the  spirit  of  prophecy  which  was  in  him  that  this  was 
the  Messiah  to  proclaim  whom  he  exists,  and  in  whom 
and  through  whom  the  word  of  prophecy  will  become 
true.  Jesus  is  the  man  who  is  acftually  to  bring  forgive- 
ness to  Israel,  which  he,  the  Baptist,  can  only  symbol- 
ize. Jesus  Himself,  in  His  person,  acflually  25  forgive- 
ness. Where  Jesus  is,  there  is  the  forgiveness.  On  this 
account  John  refuses  to  baptize  Him,  since  rather  he 
(John)  ought  to  be  baptized  of  Him.     But  Jesus  con- 

43 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

strained  him,  saying:  "For  thus  it  becometh  us  to 
fulfil  all  righteousness. ' '  For  is  the  sinners'  brother 
appointed  to  save  the  sinners  ?  The  Baptist  perceives 
that  He  has  not  to  confess  sin,  since  He  came  to  take  it 
away,  to  forgive  it.  But  precisely  because,  tho  with- 
out sin,  He  is  the  brother  of  sinners,  He  is  able  to  be 
more  than  any  one  of  His  human  brothers  in  His 
power  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins — for  which,  indeed, 
He  came.  He  feels  as  His  whole  race  feels,  or  should 
feel ;  He  longs  after  that  for  which  all  Israel  longs ;  He 
prays  for  that  which  all  Israel  prays  or  should  pray  for, 
and  John  baptizes  Him  with  the  baptism  which  sym- 
bolizes the  granting  of  His  petition  that  all  righteous- 
ness be  fulfilled.  But  now  is  added  to  the  symbol  of 
baptism  the  Divine  reality.  The  Holy  Ghost  descends 
upon  Jesus,  the  Father  makes  Himself  known  to  this 
His  Son,  with  whom  He  stands  and  will  stand  united 
as  with  no  one  else,  who  is  to  do  His  work  upon  earth 
in  the  power  of  the  Spirit,  through  whom  God  is 
united  to  Him  and  His  work  in  abiding  union.  The 
voice  of  the  Father  sounds  forth,  and  John  hears  it  : 
'  *  This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased. ' '  ^ 

With  this  began  the  w^ay  of  Jesus.  John  had  desig- 
nated Him  as  the  mightier  One  who  w^as  to  come  after 
him.  The  fan  is  in  His  hand,  and  He  will  thoroughly 
cleanse  His  threshing-floor  ;  the  ax  is  already  laid 
unto  the  root  of  the  tree,  and  only  waits  to  be  lifted 
up.  For  among  those  who  had  come  to  Him  were 
many  to  whom  His  baptism  was  displeasing,  and  who 
critically  opposed  His  preaching,  because  their  whole 
tendency  referred  to  the  pretended  fulfilment  of  the 
law.     John,  however,  had  put  himself  outside  of  the 

44 


THE  SYNOPTIC   ACCOUNT 


law.  Would  he  not  thereby  destroy  Israel's  hope? 
Could  he  be  a  prophet  of  God  ?  The  others,  however, 
the  Sadducees,  cared  nothing  for  the  fulfilment  of  the 
promise,  but  everything  for  the  preservation  of  their 
position  and  its  priestly  privileges;  they  believed  not  in 
a  working  of  the  living  God.  To  both  the  Baptist 
had  said  :  ' '  Think  not  to  say  within  yourself.  We  have 
Abraham  to  our  Father  ;  for  I  say  unto  you  that  God 
is  able  of  these  stones  to  raise  up  children  unto  Abra- 
ham." The  promise  is  fulfilled  which  is  given  to 
Abraham  and  his  seed,  tho  the  entire  posterity  of 
Abraham  is  not  fit  to  inherit  it.  But  where  was  the 
judgment?  Jesus  the  Messiah,  Jesus  the  mightier 
One,  Jesus  the  Judge,  who  should  judge  His  people — 
where  was  the  judgment  ?  Jesus  has  not  abandoned  His 
right  of  judgment.  He  will  hold  it  over  all  nations, 
and  that  He  is  able  to  execute  it  He  proves,  as  we  shall 
see  ;  but  the  time  for  its  execution  has  not  yet  come. 
The  way  of  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  God,  who  had  be- 
come like  unto  sinners,  and  the  way  to  the  seat  of 
judgment  were  very  different,  not  understood  even  by 
the  Baptist.  The  first  step  in  this  way  was  a  renun- 
ciation without  its  equal,  and  yet  it  was  only  the  first 
step,  the  beginning.  The  end  was  yet  a  much  greater 
renunciation.  Moved  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  which 
filled  Him,  He  goes  into  the  wilderness,  not  to  the  peo- 
ple for  whom  He  had  come  into  the  world.  What 
means  this?  He  is  baptized;  in  holy,  most  serious 
meditation,  and  in  clear  perception  of  His  special  call- 
ing. He  bowed  under  the  hand  of  the  Baptist,  and  ob- 
tained that  which  He  needed  to  accomplish  in  the 
power  and  name  of  the  Father,  the  work  of  His  call- 

45 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

ing.  Why  does  He  not  now  go  to  the  people  to  show 
Himself  to  them  as  the  Messiah  sent  by  God  ? 

He  can  not  and  may  not  begin  His  work  without 
first  fighting  with  him  who  has  been  from  the  begin- 
ning the  opponent  of  God  and  of  His  purposes  of  grace 
with  men,  and  who  has  his  work  here  on  earth — 
Satan.  Only  after  having  fought  this  fight,  and  hav- 
ing conquered  in  it,  can  He  come  down  among  men. 
He  is  summoned  by  Satan  to  use  His  power  for  His 
own  benefit,  or  to  be  bought  of  him  by  obtaining  with- 
out any  toil  the  government  of  the  world,  which  he 
professes  to  give  to  w^homsoever  he  pleases.  But  He  is 
not  endowed  by  God  to  make  use  of  His  power  for 
Himself,  for  His  own  benefit.  It  is  not  God's  way  that 
He  should  obtain  recognition  for  Himself  by  means 
that  were  worthy  only  of  condemnation.  God's  way 
is  that  of  humble,  perfe(5l  faith  and  obedience  to  the 
Father,  who  will  show  Him  not  only  what  he  must  do, 
but  also  what  he  must  suffer.  The  degrading  assump- 
tion that  He  will  sell  Himself,  as  if,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  every  man  has  his  price  for  which  he  will  give 
up  God  and  God's  truth  and  the  salvation  of  his  soul 
that  he  may  obtain  the  world  and  what  it  offers.  He 
must  take  like  a  blow  in  the  face.  He  can  only  refuse 
it  with  words.  The  significance  of  it  is  that  He  is  to 
save,  not  to  destroy,  the  world.  Then  Satan  leaves 
Him,  and  Jesus  returns  to  John,  who  meanwhile  had 
become  ever  sadder  and  more  lonesome. 

John  the  Baptist  sees  Jesus  walking,  and  bears  wit- 
ness of  Him,  as  John  the  Evangelist  records  :  ''  Behold, 
the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the 
world  " — a  word  of  faith  in  which,  in  one  comprehen- 

46 


THE  SYNOPTIC   ACCOUNT 


sive,  prophetic  word,  he  recalls  at  the  same  time  that 
which  he  has  said  of  the  *  *  baptizing  in  the  power  of  the 
Spirit ' '  in  contradistindtion  to  his  own  baptism,  which 
was  only  a  symbol  containing  the  promise  of  the 
reality,  and  what  the  ancient  Divine  order  of  the  law, 
as  well  as  the  established  promise  of  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,  sets  forth.  As  to  how  this  forgiveness  takes  place 
he  says  nothing,  but  as  Jesus  now  again  appears  for 
the  first  time  after  an  absence  of  more  than  forty  days, 
John  sees  how  heavy  his  calling  rests  on  Him,  and 
immediately  understands  that  suffering  and  sacrifice  are 
necessary  if  He  is  to  save  the  people.  For  no  one, 
literally  no  one,  has  fulfilled  the  word  of  the  Baptist. 
No  one  goes  and  asks  Jesus  :  ' '  Who  art  Thou  ?  ' ' 
Still  less  has  any  one  said  :  ' '  John  has  pointed  us  to 
Thee."  On  the  following  day,  seeing  Jesus  walking 
alone,  the  Baptist  repeats  his  words:  ''Behold,  the 
Lamb  of  God  ! ' '  Then  two  of  his  disciples,  Andrew 
and  John,  the  son  of  Zebedee,  follow  this  diredlion. 
Tw^o — this  was  the  beginning  of  discipleship  with  Him 
for  whom  John  came,  and  for  whose  sake  the  whole 
people  had  come  out  to  him.  Two — this  was  the  re- 
sponse with  which  the  prophet  of  God  met ;  as  he  said 
later  on  :  ' '  In  the  midst  of  you  standeth  one  whom 
ye  know  not."  But  these  two,  convinced  from  the 
beginning  by  the  words  of  the  Baptist,  now  also  further 
convince  themselves,  by  their  own  experience,  that 
Jesus  is  indeed  the  promised  Messiah.  That  which 
induced  them  and  the  others  who  through  them  came 
to  Jesus — Simon,  whom  Jesus  called  Peter,  their  friend 
Philip,  and  Nathanael  of  Cana  in  Galilee — to  believe  on 
Him,  to  know  Him  as  the  Messiah,  and  to  follow  Him 

47 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

in  order  to  see  His  power  and  glory,  was  the  very  thing 
which  John  had  testified  unto  them.  John  had  spoken 
of  their  sin^  had  demanded  repcnta7ice  and  confessioji 
of  si7is.  Jesus  makes  them  understand  His  deep  in- 
sight into  their  sin,  and  to  know  that  it  is  because 
of  their  sin  He  has  come  into  the  world.  He  felt  the 
groaning  of  Simon  under  the  power  of  his  sin,  and 
gave  him  a  name  which  promised  to  him  a  future, 
entirely  different  from  that  which  he  could  expedl,  con- 
sidering the  kind  of  man  he  was  by  nature.  He  had 
noted  Nathanael's  prayer  and  confession  of  sin,  the  like 
of  which  no  one  had  ever  seen  or  heard  from  Peter. 
Thus  Jesus  announced  to  them  the  grace  of  God,  Vv^hile 
he  showed  them  also  fully  and  unreserv^edly  the  sig- 
nificance of  their  sin.  They  believed,  moreover,  altho 
every  appearance  was  against  it,  that  He  was  the  royal 
deliverer  and  peace-bringer  of  Israel.  They  believed 
He  would  prove  Himself  such  by  His  power,  and  so 
they  followed  Him,  and  waited  for  still  greater  things 
they  wished  and  expedled  to  see.  That  Jesus  was 
righteous,  and,  indeed.  He  alone,  they  had  now  ex- 
perienced for  themselves.  Sin  and  grace  have  never 
before  become  manifest  as  they  are  now  shown.  In 
the  way  which  He  went  they  experienced  so  much  of 
His  Messiahship  that  they  attached  themselves  to  Him 
confidently,  altho  this  way  was  provisionally  only  one 
of  humble  renunciation.  Jesus  indeed  could  not  come 
before  the  people  with  the  claim  :  "  1  am  the  Messiah  ! ' ' 
Either  none  would  have  believed  it,  or  they  would 
have  hailed  Him,  lifted  Him  on  the  shield,  and  made 
Him  king,  without  even  thinking  in  the  least  that  not 
the  sin  and  violence  of  others  but  our  own  sin  is  our 

48 


THE   SYNOPTIC   ACCOUNT 


reproach.  In  any  case,  nothing  else  would  have  been 
left  for  Jesus  but  to  assert  Himself  and  speak  God's 
truth  with  all  His  might  against  His  people.  On  His 
own  account  He  had  to  leave  it  to  the  holiness  of  the 
cause  which  He  represented,  and  to  the  acflivity  which 
He  should  unfold,  to  make  Himself  rightly  known. 

The  cause  which  He  represented  was  nothing  else 
than  that  which  John  had  announced  as  being  at  hand, 
a  wondrous  gift  of  grace — the  Kingdom  of  God.  This 
is  the  tenor  of  all  Divine  promises  and  all  gifts  of  sal- 
vation which  God  prepared  for  men  from  eternity. 
It  is  the  Kingdom  in  which  God  rules,  and  men 
under  the  protection  of  His  might  and  love  have 
peace,  and  in  peace  enjoy  freedom  from  all  misery  and 
distress.  In  this  Kingdom  the  word  concerning  Israel's 
redemption  and  Jerusalem's  deliverance  is  fulfilled : 
"The  inhabitant  shall  not  say,  I  am  sick  ;  the  people 
that  dwell  therein  shall  be  forgiven  their  iniquity." 
It  is  the  Kingdom  of  the  Father,  for  which  Israel  has 
longed  in  its  deepest  distress,  in  the  most  grievous 
sighing  after  deliverance,  in  its  darkest  nights.  This 
name  Jesus  takes  up  when  repeating  the  sermon  of  the 
Baptist.  He  calls  God  Father,  as  the  Baptist  has  never 
called  Him.  But  He  did  not  thereby  proclaim  new 
knowledge  of  God  which  had  come  to  Him,  or  had 
been  discovered  by  Him,  or  had  been  exclusively  given 
to  Him,  in  opposition  to  the  Israelitish  Old  Testament 
knowledge  of  God.  It  has  been  said  that  in  its  narrow- 
ness and  limitation  the  Old  Testament  idea  is  false 
and  can  not  satisfy  Israel,  because  it  requires  of  us  to 
think  of  God  as  an  austere,  inexorable  judge.  The 
contrast  has  been  drawn  between  the  Old  Testament 


49 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

use  of  this  name  Father  and  the  sense  in  which  Jesus 
used  it  (compare  Isaiah  Ixiii  :  i6  ;  Jeremiah  iii :  4, 
19  ;  xxxi :  9  ;  Malachi  i  :  6  ;  ii :  10  ;  Deuteronomy 
xxxii :  6),  but  there  is  not  a  single  passage  in  the 
discourses  of  Jesus  to  warrant  the  theory  current  in 
our  day  that  such  a  contrast  exists.  Jesus  called  God 
Father  because  He  did  the  deed  of  redemption  for 
which  Israel  waited.  He  is  the  Father  of  Jesus  be- 
cause Jesus  is  His  Son,  w^hom  He  has  chosen  to  exe- 
cute His  redemption  ;  He  is  Israel's  Father  because 
Israel  is  the  objedl  of  redemption  promised,  and  He  is 
the  Father  of  all  those  to  whom  He  sends  the  redemp- 
tion. With  the  redemption  He  proves  that  He  has 
not  forgotten  His  people,  but  interests  Himself  in 
them,  shows  His  power  and  establishes  His  Kingdom 
among  them.  God's  Kingdom  and  God's  name  of 
Father  belong  together.  God's  Kingdom  takes  its 
name  not  from  the  obedience  of  the  citizens  of  a  king- 
dom, but  from  God's  deed  of  redemption.  God's 
name  of  Father  reveals  the  ground  of  compassionate 
love,  and  shows  us  why  God  interests  Himself  in  those 
whom  He  has  chosen  for  His  children.  He  made  this 
meaning  known  to  Pharaoh  through  Moses,  when  He 
said  :   '*  Israel  is  my  first-born  son." 

In  this  connec5lion  of  God's  name  of  Father  with 
the  proclamation  of  God's  Kingdom,  we  see  the  first 
difference  between  the  proclamation  of  Jesus  and  that 
of  the  Baptist.  This  at  first  tells  us  nothing  essen- 
tially new.  It  emphasizes  the  fadl  that  the  promise  to 
Israel  is  about  to  be  fulfilled— indeed,  is  now  already 
in  process  of  fulfilment.  Nevertheless,  one  can  but  feel 
that  there  is  a  peculiar  meaning  in  which  Jesus  says 

50 


THE  SYNOPTIC   ACCOUNT 


Father  in  addressing  God  or  in  speaking  of  God. 
He  speaks  of  Him  as  Father,  who  has  called  Him- 
self Israels  Father,  and  who  has  called  Israel  His  son, 
His  first-born,  and  whom  Israel  also  addresses  as 
Father  in  its  devotitest  prayers.  Jesus  says  * '  the 
Father,"  ''your  Father,"  *' My  Father,"  but  never 
'  *  our  Father, ' '  except  where  he  tells  the  disciples  how 
to  pray.  The  adlual  fulfilment  of  the  promise  is  con- 
ne<5led  wnth  Jesus;  where  Jesus  is  and  only  where  He 
is  there  is  God's  Kingdom  ;  therefore  He  says  Father  as 
no  one  else  can  say  it.  But  this  changes  nothing  in  the 
idea  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  except  that  this  is,  as  now, 
in  the  process  of  final  fulfilment  of  all  the  promises  of 
God.  The  present  does  not  look  like  the  fulfilment  of 
the  promise,  and  yet  it  would  be  seen  in  the  final  end 
of  His  mission  on  earth  that  something  more  glorious 
than  the  promise  has  come.  In  the  mouth  of  Jesus 
also  the  Kingdom  of  God  means  that  condition  of  Israel 
relative  to  the  world  in  which  all  promises  are  or  have 
been  fulfilled.  In  this  Kingdom  Israel  enjoys  forgive- 
ness of  sins,  suspension  of  judgment,  and  relief  from 
distress  under  which  it  groans,  and  thence  eternal 
peace.  On  this  account  the  Kingdom  of  God  or  the 
establishment  of  God's  government  is  brought  about 
by  a  great  redemptive  deed,  by  the  pracflical  proof  of 
the  power  and  love  of  God  for  the  redemption  of  His 
people. 

But  where  is,  where  remains,  this  redemptive  *deed  ? 
Is  it,  perhaps,  to  consist  only  in  new  and  different 
thoughts  and  aspeds,  through  which  Jesus  taught  His 
disciples  to  look  upon  life  and  the  course  of  events  in 
the  world?     But   aspedls   are   not   powers,   thoughts 

51 


THE  ESSENCE  OI^  CHRISTIANITY 


bring  no  liberty  and  peace,  and  do  not  take  away  the 
heavy  and  painful  reality  of  God's  judgment  resting 
upon  Israel.  Jesus  had  appeared,  and  Jesus  then  rather 
calls  attention  to  Himself,  tells  them  that  He  will  some 
day  come  to  judge  the  earth  and  to  save  His  own,  and 
that  whoever  comes  to  Him  and  abides  by  Him  is  not 
only  sure  of  his  future,  but  shall  also  have  peace  in 
the  present.  We  have  but  to  recall  the  parable  of  the 
widow  and  the  unrighteous  judge,  and  the  discourses 
of  the  Lord  concerning  His  coming.  These  He  seals 
and  endorses  in  the  last  evening  of  His  ministry  at  the 
institution  of  the  sacraments.  These  are  words  that 
He  spoke  at  the  end  of  His  career.  He  had,  indeed, 
many  occasions  to  speak  otherwise  if  He  had,  through 
His  experience,  come  to  an  idea  of  the  Kingdom  of  God 
different  from  that  which  He  had  originally— the  idea 
preached  by  John  the  Baptist.  But  there  has  been  no 
change.  The  Kingdom  of  God,  for  which  He  came, 
is  the  same  at  the  end  of  His  career  as  in  the  begin- 
ning. It  represents  in  His  earlier  as  in  His  later 
teaching  a  world-condition  brought  about  by  the  right- 
eous judgment  of  God  the  Father,  in  which  His  own 
have  peace  and  freedom  from  all  distress  through  the 
forgiveness  of  their  sins,  Jesus  proclaims  this  King- 
dom, He  brings  in  this  Kingdom;  where  He  is,  there  is 
this  Kiiigdom.  It  is  appointed  for  the  poor,  who  in  the 
inmost  depths  of  their  being  suffer  under  their  poverty, 
and  are  oppressed  and  pained  by  those  who  have  the 
power  in  the  world.  For  the  sufferers,  for  the  mourn- 
ers, for  those  who  can  only  tell  God  their  sorrow  and 
wait  for  God's  righteous  judgment  on  their  own  be- 
half, for  such  is  this  Kingdom  appointed,  for  such  it 

52 


THE  SYNOPTIC  ACCOUNT 


exists.  But  where  is  it  ?  The  Baptist  is  in  prison,  and 
waits  in  vain  to  be  the  first  to  whom  the  Messiah  should 
reveal  His  full  power.  Jesus  points  him  to  the  signs  of 
His  Messiahship  :  the  miracles  which  He  performs, 
the  poor  who  are  evangelized,  that  the  fulfilment  of 
the  promise  is  preached  to  the  poor — but  where  is 
the  fulfilment?  Jesus  adds:  "And  blessed  is  he, 
whosoever  shall  find  no  occasion  of  stumbling  in  me." 
It  is  as  if  He  bade  him  suffer  and  die,  looking  for  the 
salvation  of  God,  like  Jacob.  It  is  as  if  He  had  said  : 
**  I  am  the  Messiah,  of  this  you  can  be  certain,  and  in 
this  certainty  you  can  suffer  and  die. ' '  Has  He  there- 
with, then,  transferred  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the  King- 
dom of  Heaven,  from  this  world  to  the  other  ?  Hardly, 
for  He  teaches  His  disciples  to  say:  "  Thy  Kingdom 
come  ' '  and  ' '  deliver  us  from  evil. ' '  To  the  Kingdom 
of  God  belongs,  indeed,  the  future,  the  new  world, 
the  new  heaven,  the  new  earth;  but  the  present  also 
belongs  to  it.  But  in  the  present  the  Kingdom  is  still 
in  distress.  He,  the  Messiah  himself,  suffers  under 
the  misconception  of  men  who  turn  away  from  all 
Divine  things.  On  this  account  the  conditions  then 
present  did  not  look  like  God's  Kingdom  because 
men  opposed  the  government  of  God,  and  therefore 
opposed  Jesus. 

Here  and  there  were  a  few  who  knew  Him  as  the 
God-sent  Messiah,  and  followed  Him  or  believed  in  Him. 
Not  only  did  a  vast  contrast  appear  between  the  claim 
which  He  makes  or  which  is  made  for  Him  and  the 
ac5lual  appearance  of  the  world,  between  the  hoped- 
for  and  desired  Kingdom  of  God  and  the  poor  reality 
which  men  saw,  but  even  His  word  that  He  spea!^}^ 

5ä 


THE  ESSKNCK  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

is  too  serious,  the  salvation-message  which  He  brings 
does  not  suit  those  who  after  their  own  imagination 
have  made  a  pidlure  of  the  future — the  scribes, 
Pharisees,  priests,  and  elders  of  the  people.  The  mes- 
sage indeed  appears  to  confirm  their  hopes  in  promising 
freedom  from  all  afflidlion  and  evil,  but  these  hopes 
are  to  be  confirmed  through  the  forgiveness  of  their 
sins.  This  forgiveness,  as  Jesus  brings  it  and  prac- 
tises it,  they  do  not  want.  That  we  need  forgiveness 
may  be  admitted.  But  they  thought  themselves  to 
have  a  claim  to  forgiveness  through  their  descent  from 
Abraham  and  as  belonging  to  the  chosen  people  of 
God.  As  it  is  among  us  to-day,  they  relied  upon 
their  good  works,  fastings,  alms,  as  merits  which 
they  believed  they  had  acquired  and  would  acquire. 
On  this  account  Jesus  remains  alone,  and  lonely  walks 
His  way  ;  the  cities  of  Chorazim,  Bethsaida,  and 
Capernaum  He  must  rebuke,  because,  exalted  unto 
heaven  by  His  presence,  they  would  not  believe.  No 
one  has  known  Him,  no  one  knows  the  Father,  who 
speaks  through  Him  and  in  Him,  and  is  present  with 
Him.  This  is  the  lonely  condition  of  Him  who  came 
to  fulfil  all  promises  of  God.  Nevertheless,  He  per- 
sists in  His  invitation  to  all  that  labor  and  are  heavy 
laden,  that  He  may  quicken  them  and  give  rest  unto 
their  souls.  He  sends  His  disciples  into  all  cities  and 
markets  of  the  land  to  proclaim  the  message  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God — in  vain!  He  performs  miracles 
more  abundantly  than  any  one  had  ever  done  before 
Him — not  merely  for  the  sake  of  men,  tho  they  were 
miracles  of  Divine  compassion.  Through  them  is  re- 
vealed besides  that  He  is  the  master  over  the  mighty, 
54 


THE  SYNOPTIC  ACCOUNT 


supreme  iu  power  over  the  evil  one.  This,  too,  is  in 
vain.  Nevertheless,  He  persists  in  this  work  of 
bringing  in  the  Kingdom  of  God,  which,  however, 
because  of  the  evil  doing  of  men,  is  far  different  from 
the  Kingdom  that  had  been  commonly  expecfted.  He 
speaks  of  it  only  in  parables  which  show  the  condem- 
nation of  those  wdio  know  Him  not  and  wall  not 
know  Him — a  thought  at  first  incomprehensible 
even  to  His  disciples.  For  in  all  parables  He 
speaks  of  those  points  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  of 
which  they  did  not  clearly  think.  Thus  He  pa- 
tiently explains  to  them  in  the  parable  of  the  sower 
how  thrice  the  word  fails,  and  only  in  a  fourth 
part  of  the  field,  which  is  the  world,  bears  fruit ;  in 
the  parable  of  the  tares  among  the  wheat  that  are  not 
now  to  be  rooted  up,  how  the  children  of  evil  are  to 
remain  unto  the  end  of  days  for  the  sake  of  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Kingdom.  Jesus  is  present.  He  is  the 
Messiah,  and  He  says  of  Himself:  **But  if  I  by  the 
power  of  the  Spirit  of  God  cast  out  the  devils,  then 
the  Kingdom  of  God  has  come  without  your  perceiving 
it. ' '  He  can  only  testify  thereof  and  pardon  the  sins  of 
those  who  believe  in  Him.  He  wäll  not  and  can  not 
yet  begin  judgment  and  establish  the  glory  of  the 
Kingdom  ;  this  will  come  later  on.  First  must  all  be 
accomplished  upon  Him  that  is  hidden  in  the  human 
heart  of  enmity — enmity  against  God  and  God's  works. 
Jesus  is  on  His  last  journey  to  Jerusalem  in  the 
parts  of  Caesarea  Philippi  in  the  extremest  northern 
border  of  the  country.  True,  they  speak  of  Him  every- 
where in  the  holy  land,  but  He  is  not  regarded  as  the 
Messiah.    It  is  questionable,  on  the  other  hand,  w^hether 

Ö5 


THK  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

even  His  disciples  are  firm  and  clear  in  their  belief  in 
Him,  and  have  been  so  convinced  of  His  Messiahship  that 
they  will  stand  firmly  for  Him  in  the  face  of  the  whole 
people.  They  have  to  acknowledge  to  themselves 
that  everywhere  indeed  great  things,  yea,  wonderful 
things,  are  spoken  of  Him.  The  main  thing,  however, 
is  not  mentioned.  It  is  not  yet  known,  they  do  not 
understand,  that  He  is  the  Messiah,  chosen  of  God  to 
be  the  King  of  His  Kingdom.  This  expelled  One  is 
called  Messiah  or  A?toi7ited,  King  by  the  grace  of  God. 
''  And  ye?  "  Jesus  asks  them.  "  Who  say  ye  that  I 
am  ?  Men  call  me  the  Son  of  Man,  because  they  can 
not  know  the  Son  of  Man  as  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of 
God,  the  King  anointed  of  God. ' '  Thereupon  Peter 
makes  the  confession  in  the  name  of  all  disciples  : 
'•Thou  art  the  Messiah  of  God,"  or  ''Thou  art  the 
Christ,  the  Son  of  the  Eiving  God. ' '  Hearing  this,  Jesus 
promises  that  upon  this,  the  foundation  of  this  con- 
fession, He  will  build  His  Church,  the  Church  of  the 
redeemed,  that  congregation  which  He  had  already  in 
view  when  He  said  to  His  disciples  :  ' '  Fear  not,  little 
flock;  for  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you 
the  Kingdom."  Nothing  can  be  said  against  the 
authenticity  of  this  word  that  prophecies  the  building 
of  His  Church,  against  which  the  gates  of  Hades  shall 
not  prevail.  Israel  was  accustomed  to  call  itself  the 
Church  of  God,  and  had  waited  until  the  Kingdom 
should  be  appointed  to  it. 

After  the  belief  of  the  disciples  had  thus  been  ex- 
pressed over  against  the  disbelief  of  the  whole  peo- 
ple, Jesus  now  clearly  and  unequivocally  points  onward 
to  His  end.     As  the  records  show,  He  had  from  the 

5G 


THE  SYNOPTIC   ACCOUNT 


beginning  His  death  before  Him.  In  the  face  of  death 
He  has  preached  not  only  the  kingdom  of  God,  as  the 
f  ulfihnent  of  all  prophecies,  but  He  has  also  attested  it 
as  both  present  and  future.  How  this  was  possible, 
what  connecftion  there  is  between  the  two  fa(5ls,  is  a 
matter  for  consideration  by  itself.  But  the  facft  that 
Jesus,  according  to  our  records,  from  the  beginning 
saw  both  these  fadls  together  must  be  acknowledged. 
Reje(5lion  and  deliverance  to  death  awaited  Him  who 
had  challenged  the  confession  that  He  is  the  Messiah, 
the  King  of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  From  the  begin- 
ning He  had  hinted  at  and  pointed  to  it — now  He  ex- 
pressed it  openly  and  without  disguise.  The  dis- 
ciples do  not  comprehend  it.  Again  it  is  Peter  who 
takes  the  lyord  apart  and  asks  Him  to  spare  Himself, 
that  this  thing  may  not  happen  to  him.  For  this 
Peter  is  rebuked  by  Jesus  :  * '  Get  thee  behind  Me, 
Satan,  for  thou  mindest  not  the  things  of  God,  but  the 
things  of  men."  Two  of  the  disciples,  the  sons  of 
Zebedee,  believe  in  His  Messiahship,  and  are  ready, 
as  they  think,  and  in  the  sense  in  which  they  under- 
stand  it,  to  drink  the  cup  that  He  was  about  to 
drink,  and  be  baptized  with  the  baptism  that  He  is 
baptized  with.  They  know  that  He  must  suffer  and  be 
deeply  baptized  into  the  floods  of  hatred,  but  they  can 
and  will  suffer  with  Him,  because  the  Kingdom  never- 
theless shall  come;  they  wish,  when  it  is  established,  to 
be  nearest  to  Him.  Jesus  refuses  their  request,  and 
at  the  same  time  addresses  Himself  to  the  other  dis- 
ciples, of  whom,  finally,  each  wished  to  be  the  first, 
and  says  unto  them  :  '  *  The  rulers  of  the  Gentiles 
lord  it  over  them,  and  their  great  ones  exercise  au- 

67 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

thority  over  them.  Not  so  shall  it  be  among  you. 
Even  as  the  Son  of  Man  came  not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for 
many."  They  understand  Him  not.  He  also  speaks 
of  the  future,  saying  that  the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom 
must  be  preached  in  the  whole  world  for  a  testimony 
unto  all  nations,  and  when  this  is  done  He  shall  come 
in  the  glory  of  the  Father,  who  has  chosen  and  re- 
deemed His  people,  and  all  holy  angels  with  Him. 
This  the  disciples  readily  believe ;  but  that  death 
should  intervene,  this  they  did  not  understand.  He  had 
said  to  Israel :  *  *  The  Kingdom  of  God  shall  be  taken 
away  from  you,  and  shall  be  given  to  a  nation  bringing 
forth  the  fruits  thereof. ' '  Israel  thinks  this  impossi- 
ble. Finally  comes  the  last  evening  on  which  once 
more  He  celebrates  with  the  disciples  and  they  with 
Him  in  one  and  the  same  ceremony — the  Passover  at 
Jerusalem,  the  memorial  Supper  of  the  redemption 
from  Egypt,  and  the  promised,  long-desired  Messianic 
redemption  through  the  revelation  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  The  disciples  expedl  at  this  time  the  revelation 
of  His  glory,  the  great  Messiah-deed  of  Israel's  re- 
demption. Jesus  is  prepared  for  death.  He  gives 
them  bread  and  wine  at  the  Passover  meal,  and  says  : 
''This  is  My  body.  My  blood,  given  and  shed  for  you 
for  the  remission  of  sins. ' '  They  understand  Him  not. 
But  this  they  understand,  that  He  will  appoint  unto 
them  a  Kingdom,  even  as  His  Father  appointed  unto 
Him.  But  they  did  not  comprehend  His  word  :  "  All 
shall  be  offended  in  Me  this  night, "  and  they  assure 
Him,  Peter  first  of  all,  of  their  unshaken  fidelity. 
But — they  keep  not  the  faith,  Judas  betrays  Him, 
58 


THE  SYNOPTIC   ACCOUNT 


Peter  denies  Him,  all  the  others  forsake  Him  and  run 
away,  and  thus  rejedled  by  the  people,  sentenced  by 
the  authorities,  given  up  by  the  Gentiles,  forsaken  by 
His  own,  goes  on  His  way  to  the  cross. 

No  man  expedled  anything  more  of  Him.  There 
is  but  one  here  who  understands  the  wrong  that  is 
being  perpetrated,  a  being  belonging  to  the  refuse  of 
the  world,  who  had  seen  the  wrongs  that  men  can  do 
in  cold  blood.  He  is  himself  unrighteous,  yet  had  he 
the  right  he  would  arrange  the  whole  world  before 
God's  tribunal.  But  he  is  not  right  himself.  He  is  a 
thief,  himself  condemed.  Jesus  alone  is  right,  the  only 
righteous  one  of  all.  He  is  the  only  One  who  has 
authority  before  God,  and  whoever  wdll  be  saved  from 
condemnation  must  take  refuge  with  Him.  Knowing 
this,  this  man  confesses  that  he  was  receiving  the  due 
reward  of  his  deeds,  and  prays:  *'  I^ord,  remember  me 
when  Thou  comest  into  Thy  Kingdom."  Jesus,  how- 
ever, accepts  this  petition,  and  promises  him  that  he 
shall  be  with  Him  that  very  day  in  Paradise.  Thus, 
dying.  He  endorses  still  the  Gospel  which  He  has 
preached.  But  when  He  knew  that  all  things  were 
finished,  that  the  Scripture  might  be  accomplished,  He 
said,  ' '  I  thirst, ' '  and  one  of  the  soldiers  filled  a  sponge 
with  vinegar  and  put  it  to  His  mouth.  When  He 
therefore  had  received  the  vinegar,  He  said:  "It  is 
finished!  and  He  bowed  the  head  and  gave  up  His 
spirit. ' ' 

Is  this  all  ?  Jesus  had  proclaimed  great  things,  the 
Kingdom  of  God — not  merely  a  Kingdom  in  which 
those  meet  who  intend  to  do  the  will  of  God,  and  who 
sufier  God  to  be  their  I,ord  whose  motives  and  objeds 

69 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

should  also  be  the  chief  motives  and  obje(5ls  of  their 
life,  but  still  more  significantly  a  Kingdom  which  has 
its  name  from  the  fa6l  that  God  establishes  it.  It  is 
God  who  shows  in  it  His  power — the  power  in  very- 
deed  to  redeem  His  own.  It  is  God  who  through  this 
Kingdom,  in  the  omnipotence  of  His  love,  fulfils  His 
promises,  not  for  and  on  the  righteous,  not  for  those 
who  are  whole,  but  for  and  on  sinners,  for  and  on  such 
sinners  as  she  was  of  whom  it  is  recorded  that  He  knew 
not  ' '  who  and  what  manner  of  woman  this  is  which 
toucheth  Him."  For  them  Jesus  was  sent  from  God, 
for  them  He  brings  the  grace  of  God,  which  they 
need;  such  as  these  will  He  comfort  and  revive.  To 
Him  should  they  come,  in  Him  should  they  beHeve. 
//e  is  not  subjefl,  but  objeH,  of  religion. 

Has  He  the  right  ?  Are  these  statements  of  Him 
still  true  ?  Or  must  we  first  purge  the  accounts  of  Him 
from  every  accessory  of  Jewish  particularism,  of  Jew- 
ish theology,  of  Jewish  presumption  and  elements  of 
narrowness  in  their  knowledge  of  nature  ?  He  said 
great  things  about  the  inestimable  w^orth  of  a  human 
soul,  indeed,  not  merely  in  the  figurative  discourses 
upon  the  birds  of  the  heaven,  the  lilies  of  the  field, 
the  hairs  on  our  head,  but  even  more  pointedly  in  the 
parables  of  the  lost  sheep,  the  lost  piece  of  silver,  and 
the  prodigal  son.  These  w^ere  sinners'  souls,  in  whom 
Jesus  had  an  interest,  as  He  shows  w^hen  He  interests 
Himself  in  the  paralytic  and  the  publican.  It  was  not, 
as  Wellhausen  says,  that  ' '  His  predilection  for  sinners 
sometimes  seems  to  go  too  far,  but  as  to  this  one  must 
always  take  into  account  His  opposition  to  the  Phari- 
sees. ' '    Rather  what  Paul  attests  later  is  true  :   ' '  Where 

60 


THE  SYNOPTIC   ACCOUNT 


sin  abounded,  grace  did  abound  more  exceedingly." 
Jesus  has  proved  this,  and  thus  made  Himself  the 
center  of  attracflion  to  sinners  to  assure  the  most  miser- 
able of  the  miserable  that  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  at 
hand,  and  that  He  is  the  King  of  this  Kingdom,  chosen 
of  God. 

Now  He  had  gone.  Where  now  abides  and  remains 
the  Kingdom  of  God  ?  Does  it  not  seem  as  if  we  were 
obliged  to  distinguish  at  least  the  transient  and  the  en- 
during in  the  accounts  concerning  Jesus  ?  But  before 
we  proceed  to  that  we  must  take  into  consideration 
another  record  of  Jesus'  career — the  Gospel  according 
to  John,  whose  narrative  is  or  seems  to  be  so  extremely 
different  from  that  of  the  synoptic  Gospels  that  we  are 
obliged  to  give  it  our  attention. 


61 


IV 

THE    JOHANNEAN    ACCOUNT 


\/kT  K  are  now  to  consider  the  relation  of  the  ac- 
»EjL-  counts  of  Christ  in  John  with  the  synoptists. 
^^fe^l  In  the  first  place,  it  must  be  admitted  that 
an  essential  part  of  the  difference  arises 
from  the  different  purpose  of  the  Gospel.  The  Johan- 
nean  Gospel  is  intended  for  the  congregation  of  be- 
lievers, who  already  know  and  follow  Christ,  and  is 
meant  to  strengthen,  confirm,  and  enrich  them,  and 
to  develop  their  faith  more  fully.  The  synoptic  Gos- 
pels, on  the  other  hand,  give  us  that  record  of  Jesus' 
career  and  history  as  it  was  again  and  again  reported 
in  connedlion  wdth  the  missionary  preaching,  and  as  it 
very  soon  took,  as  to  the  main  parts,  a  relatively  fixed 
form.  Matthew  gives  the  apology  of  Jesus'  Messiah- 
ship  over  against  Judaism  ;  Luke  a  record  of  the  his- 
tory of  Jesus,  and  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  set 
down  for  the  enlightenment  of  a  prominent  heathen 
interested  in  Christianity  ;  while  Mark  has  put  to- 
gether what  he  heard  again  and  again  in  the  mission- 
ary preaching.  We  may  thus  understand  how  it  is 
that  we  meet  a  difference  between  the  Johannean  ac- 
count and  that  of  the  synoptists,  which  is  similar  to  the 
difference  that  appears  between  the  apostolic  account 
and  that  of  Christ  Himself.  Only  incidentally  do  the 
apostles  speak  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  with  the  idea 
62 


THE    JOHANNEAN  ACCOUNT 

of  which,  however,  they  are  well  acquainted.  Instead 
of  it  they  proclaim  the  King  of  this  Kingdom,  Jesus 
the  Messiah,  the  Anointed.  They  speak  of  all  the 
good  and  great  things  which  we  owe  to  Him.  For 
after  the  resurredlion,  through  which  God  has  certified 
His  claims,  His  person  and  the  Kinghood  of  His  per- 
son stand  in  the  foreground ;  with  His  person  the 
whole  matter  is  given:  Jesus  the  King  or  the  Anointed 
saves,  judges,  gives  eternal  life;  and  thus  the  Kingdom 
of  God  exists  wherever  the  Kinghood  of  Jesus  is  be- 
lieved and  experienced.  However,  the  more  John 
reckons  with  the  fa(5l  of  the  misconducft  of  Israel,  or, 
as  he  always  says,  of  the  Jews,  the  greater  seems  to 
him  the  necessity  of  emphasizing  the  facft  that  Jesus 
is  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God. 

Further,  according  to  Matthew,  when  Christ  speaks 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  He  uses  the  customary  Jew- 
ish expression.  Kingdom  of  Heave7t,  altho  Matthew 
also  uses  the  expression.  Kingdom  of  God.  According 
to  Luke  and  Mark,  Jesus  uses  only  the  expression, 
Kingdom,  of  God.  The  message  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  however,  forms  the  true  purport  of  the  message 
of  Jesus.  Even  according  to  John,  Jesus  spoke  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  as  the  conversation  with  Nicodemus 
proves,  recalling  that  which  John  and  Jesus  have  previ- 
ously attested.  This  also  accords  with  the  word  of 
Jesus  to  Pilate  at  the  end  of  His  career.  To  Pilate's 
question,  ' '  Art  Thou  the  King  of  the  Jews  ? ' '  He  an- 
swers, * '  My  Kingdom  is  not  of  this  world  ;  thou  sayest 
that  I  am  a  king. ' '  Why  does  not  John  make  Jesus  also 
announce  the  Kingdom  of  God,  since  he  knows  the 
fac5l  that  Jesus  preached  the  Kingdom  of  God  ?     But, 

63 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

does  John  mean  to  give  a  full  vSurvey  of  the  career  of 
Jesus  ?  Let  us  recollecft  that  there  are  presented  to  us 
only  single,  isolated  extradls  from  that  which  has  been 
called  the  didadlic  life  of  Jesus.  In  the  second  chapter 
we  have  the  miracle  at  the  marriage  in  Cana,  the  cleans- 
ing of  the  temple,  and  the  short  mention  of  the  faith 
which  Jesus  found  in  Jerusalem,  on  which,  how^ever. 
He  did  not  much  rely  ;  in  the  third  chapter  there  is 
the  conversation  with  Nicodemus ;  in  the  fourth  the 
motive  for  Jesus'  journey  to  Galilee,  the  conversation 
•with  the  Samaritan  woman,  the  healing  of  the  ruler's 
son,  but  nothing  farther  of  Jesus'  adlivity  in  Galilee. 
And  3'et  John  knows  of  this,  for,  after  he  nar- 
rated in  the  fifth  chapter  the  healing  of  the  sick  by 
the  pool  of  Bethesda,  and  the  discourse  with  the  Jews 
following  the  same,  he  speaks  in  the  sixth  chapter  of 
the  feeding  of  the  five  thousand  near  the  sea  of  Gennes- 
aret,  which  w^as  the  cause  for  the  great  discourse  on 
the  eating  and  drinking  of  the  flesh  and  blood  of  the 
Son  of  Man — a  sermon  recorded  by  John  only.  In  the 
seventh  chapter  Jesus  speaks  at  the  feast  of  tabernacles, 
and  in  the  eighth  chapter  calls  Himself  the  light  of 
the  world.  To  this  should  be  joined  the  discourse  of 
Jesus  upon  discipleship,  and  the  account  in  which  the 
unbelieving  Jews  accuse  Him  of  having  a  devil.  In 
the  ninth  chapter  we  have  the  healing  of  the  man  born 
blind ;  in  the  tenth  Jesus  speaks  of  Himself  as  the 
good  shepherd ;  in  the  eleventh  occurs  the  raising  of 
I^azarus  ;  in  the  twelfth  the  anointing  in  Bethany  and 
the  entrance  into  Jerusalem  ;  in  the  thirteenth  the 
beginning  of  the  last  days,  the  washing  of  the  disciples' 
feet,  the  betrayal  of  Judas,  and  from  that  on  the  pecul- 
6i 


THE    JOHANNKAN   ACCOUNT 

iar  discourses  of  Jesus  with  His  disciples,  the  high- 
priestly  prayer,  and  the  history  of  the  passion.  Thus 
to  the  twelfth  chapter  we  have  only  isolated  extracts 
from  Jesus'  career,  which  are  not  even  intended  to 
make  the  impression  of  a  report  of  His  whole  life  and 
teaching.  For  John,  as  we  derive  from  a  number  of 
individual  features  of  his  Gospel,  presupposes  among 
his  readers  an  acquaintance  not  only  with  the  history 
of  Jesus,  but  with  the  synoptic  narrative  of  the  same, 
and  his  purpose  is  not  to  supplement  this,  but  to 
record  that  which  in  his  very  intimate  relation  to  Jesus 
had  become  important  to  him  as  the  main  question 
and  report  its  decision — the  question,  namely  :  Is 
Jesus  the  Messiah?  And  why  would  the  Jews  not 
believe  this  ?  On  this  account  John  records  only  the 
discourses  bearing  upon  a  decision  of  these  questions. 
Beside  this,  he  gives  us  some  of  the  familiar  dis- 
courses of  Jesus  with  His  disciples,  as  the  farewell 
discourses.  He  shows  in  this  that  he  has  retained  the 
ear  and  heart  of  the  disciple  whom  Jesus  loved,  and 
w^ould  not  keep  from  the  Church  his  recolledlions  con- 
necfted  with  the  most  serious,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
most  intimate  hours  with  the  Master. 

We  thus  see  in  the  discourses  of  Jesus  that  John's 
Gospel  concerns  not  the  Kingdom  of  God,  but  Christ 
Himself  as  the  Messiah  or  the  Son  of  God.  This  is 
exa(?tly  the  difference  which  distinguishes  the  apostolic 
accounts  from  the  sayings  of  Jesus  Himself,  while  at 
the  same  time  we  note  that  there  is  perfe(5l  agree- 
ment with  the  synoptists  in  that  Jesus  is  called  in 
the  same  sense  as  in  the  synoptics  the  Son  of  God, 
and  God  is  called  in  the  same  sense  the  Father,  your 

65 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Father,  my  Father.  Since  Jesus  spoke  of  the  King- 
dom of  God,  the  question  as  to  His  relation  to  this 
Kingdom,  the  question  as  to  His  Messiahship,  had  to 
arise.  Is  He  the  Messiah  ?  Is  He  the  So7i  of  God  ? 
For  the  question  as  to  the  Messiahship  was  the  ques- 
tion as  to  the  Sonship  of  God.  If  it  could  be  proved 
to  Jesus  that  in  this  very  relation  He  is  not  the  Son 
of  God,  that  He  is  in  opposition  to  the  Father,  the 
question  as  to  His  Messiahship  was  decided.  Then 
say  what  He  pleased,  do  miracles  as  many  and  as 
great  as  He  pleased,  He  was  not  the  Messiah.  With 
this  decisive  question  alone  the  Johannean  Gospel 
is  concerned.  On  this  account  the  evangelist  records 
events  and  discourses  which  refer  only  to  this,  and 
which  to  this  point  are  most  exactly  characfleristic. 
Such  are  Jesus'  discourses  with  Nicodemus  and  with 
the  Samaritan  woman. 

To  John  the  designation  So7i  of  God  in  the  synop- 
tics is  nothing  else  than  the  designation  of  the  Mes- 
siah expressing  the  unique  relation  to  Him  of  God, 
who  had  chosen  Him  to  be  His  Anointed,  the  King  of 
His  Kingdom.  God's  Son  was  to  be  Israel's  King. 
This  He  had  never  completely  been.  Since  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  Jewish  kingdom  Israel  has  waited  for 
Him,  who  forever  was  to  be  the  royal  Son  of  God, 
who  should  establish  forever  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
forever  be  the  salvation  of  His  people,  and  thereby  of 
the  whole  world.  True,  God  had  once  said  :  "  Israel 
is  my  son,  my  first-born  ;  out  of  Egypt  did  I  call  my 
son,"  and  in  its  darkest  hour,  in  its  most  fervent 
prayers  for  the  promised  deliverance,  Israel  had 
addressed  God  as  its  Father,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 


THE    JOHANNKAN   ACCOUNT 

well-known  passage  in  the  Book  of  Wisdom  (II. ,  \off. ; 
V. ,  I  if.  )•  But  they  were  not  used  to  speak  of  God  as 
the  Father,  but  only  to  pray  to  Him  thus,  and  Israel 
called  not  itself  Son  of  God,  still  less  the  Son  of  God. 
This  predicate  they  uttered  only  to  the  Messiah,  whose 
relation  to  God  was  to  transcend  every  human  measure. 
Now  Jesus  came  and  spoke  not  only  of  God  as  the 
Father — this  they  had  before  understood  and  let  it 
pass.  The  Jews  said  of  themselves,  in  one  of  these 
controversial  discourses  with  Jesus:  "We  were  not 
born  of  fornication  ;  we  have  one  Father,  even  God." 
Jesus,  however,  spoke  of  God  as  His  Father,  as  no  one 
otherwise  did;  He  referred  His  work  to  His  Father — 
* '  My  Father  worketh  even  until  now,  and  I  work. ' ' 
Was  this  not  blasphemy  ?  He,  a  man  of  man,  a  son 
of  man,  made  Himself  equal  with  God,  and  gave  to 
the  name  of  Father  and  to  the  name  of  Son  a  mean- 
ing which  no  one  could  understand  or  acknowledge 
without  acknowledging,  at  the  same  time,  the  Messiah- 
ship  of  Jesus.  For  only  an  understanding  of  the 
reality  of  the  Messiah  could  unfold  the  whole  meaning 
and  purport  of  the  designation:  "The  Son  of  God." 
Shall  this  Jesus,  the  son  of  Joseph  and  Mary,  be  the 
Son  of  God  ?  A  son  of  man  the  Son  of  God  ?  Never  ! 
And  since  He  is  not  this,  He  is  also  not  the  Messiah  ; 
He  is  also  not  the  light  of  the  world,  the  bread  of  life, 
which  came  down  out  of  heaven  and  gives  life  to  the 
world  ! 

This,  however,  is  exacftly  the  same  meaning  in 
which  the  record  of  the  synoptic  Gospels  speaks,  not 
only  of  the  fathership  of  God,  but  also  of  the  unique 
Divine  sonship  of  Christ.  Jesus  says  :  "  I  thank  Thee, 

67 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

O  Father,  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  that  Thou  didst 
hide  these  things  from  the  wise  and  understanding, 
and  didst  reveal  them  unto  babes;  yea.  Father,  for  so 
it  was  well-pleasing  in  Thy  sight.  All  things  have 
been  delivered  unto  me  of  my  Father  ;  and  no  one 
knoweth  the  Son,  save  the  Father;  neither  doth  any 
know  the  Father,  save  the  Son,  and  he  to  whomsoever 
the  Son  willeth  to  reveal  Him. ' '  In  the  same  sense 
Jesus  thinks  of  His  Divine  sonship,  where  He  expec5ls 
and  receives  from  His  disciples  the  confession:  "Thou 
(the  Son  of  Man,  whom  men  regard  as  their  equal  and 
consequently  not  as  the  Messiah),  Thou  art  the  Mes- 
siah, the  Son  of  the  Living  God."  In  the  same  sense 
He  sa}' s  on  this  occasion  to  Peter  :  ' '  Flesh  and  blood 
hath  not  revealed  it  unto  thee,  but  my  Father  which 
is  in  heaven."  It  is  the  same  idea  of  the  Son  of  God, 
the  beloved  or  chosen  Son,  that  is  meant  at  the  bap- 
tism and  at  the  transfiguration  of  Jesus,  at  His  temp- 
tation and  condemnation,  and  this  is  also  conveyed  in 
the  idea  of  the  fathership  of  God  in  its  connexion 
with  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  the  relation  of  Jesus 
to  it. 

Then  remains  for  the  Gospel  of  John  the  pecu- 
liarity of  representing  Jesus  as  One  who,  in  an  eternal 
manner,  was  God  and  became  man.  John's  history  is 
the  shadowing  forth  of  Him  in  whom  from  eternity 
everything  unites  what  God  has  to  tell  to  the  world. 
On  this  account  He  is  called  the  Word,  and,  as  this 
Word,  He  is  God.  For  everything  which  God  is  and 
will  be  for  us  He  is,  and  everything  is  comprised  and 
terminated  in  Him.  In  this  designation  there  is  to  be 
found  no  trace  whatever  of  Philonian  and  Alexandrian 

G8 


THE    JOHANNKAN   ACCOUNT 

religious  philosophy,  and  the  later  discussions  of  Greek 
theology  on  the  ' '  lyOgos  ' '  only  wrongfully  start  from 
[jliis  assumption.  He,  the  Word,  which  God  has 
spoken  to  us  and  given  unto  us,  the  Word  which  was 
with  God,  and  was  and  is  God  Himself — He  became 
flesh,  became  what  we  are  and  like  unto  us  (the  very 
reverse  of  that  what  He  was  and  is  from  the  begin- 
ning), and  dwelt  among  us.  And  as  God  in  Him 
made  Himself  a(5lually  present  with  us,  we  beheld  His 
glory — glory  as  of  the  only  begotten  from  the  Father, 
full  of  grace  and  truth.  It  is  His  history  which  came 
to  pass,  and  from  which  the  Evangelist  brings  out  the 
very  traits  in  which  this.  His  Divine  sonship,  is  pre- 
served, tho  misjudged,  opposed,  and  reje(5led.  He, 
the  Messiah,  who  saved  us  from  all  sins,  is,  indeed, 
apprehended  by  His  disciples  and  by  a  few  lost  people, 
like  the  Samaritan  woman;  but,  from  the  beginning, 
He  is  not  received  by  His  people.  He  emphasizes  that 
He  is  sent  by  the  Father,  not  to  judge  and  to  punish 
the  world,  but  to  save  it,  and  that  faith  in  Him  is  the 
salvation  of  men.  This  way  they  will  not  like,  be- 
cause they  can  not  bear  the  light,  which  through  this 
mercy  of  God  falls  from  Jesus  upon  their  way.  Hence 
the  steady  opposition  to  Jesus.  It  is  this  opposition 
chiefly  that  raises  the  question  whether  He  is  the  Son 
of  God,  the  Messiah.  It  is  this  test  to  which  He 
Himself  appeals.  He  who  hears  and  knows  the 
Father,  and  then  sees  when,  wehere,  and  how  Jesus 
speaks  and  works,  must  perceive  also  that  Jesus  is  the 
Son  of  the  Father,  because  He  does  and  speaks 
nothing  except  that  w^hich  He  sees  the  Father  do,  or 
which  the  Father  shows  unto  Him  and  inspires  Him 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

to  do  and  to  say.  Whoever  is  concerned  to  do  God's 
will,  where  Jesus  stands  before  Him  and  lays  His 
claim  to  Him,  shall  know  of  the  teaching  whether  it 
be  of  God,  whether  it  brings  the  lost  to  God,  whether 
it  unites  the  soul  with  God  or  not.  Because  this  is 
the  sufficient  test  that  Jesus  seeks,  He  judges  not — 
will  only  judge  when  the  final  day  has  come.  Till 
then  He  bears  and  suffers  whatever  disbelief  causes 
Him  to  bear.  He  plainly  declares  what  kind  of  faith 
He  seeks,  a  faith  which  unreservedly  reconciles  itself 
to  His  humble  appearance,  and  in  this  very  aspecft  of 
His  lowliness  finds  the  spirit  of  redemption.  But  His 
way  becomes  lonely  and  ever  lonelier.  He  speaks  of 
eternal  life  which  He  gives,  and  which  those  who  be- 
lieve in  Him  may  find  and  have — the  same  gift  which  the 
synoptists  name  as  the  gift  of  salvation,  for  the  sake 
of  which  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  to  be  desired.  But, 
as  He  is  not  understood  and  finds  no  faith  when  He 
speaks  of  the  Father,  so  He  also  gains  no  credence  for 
this  promise  of  eternal  life.  He  presents  Himself  to 
the  people  as  the  good  shepherd,  of  whom  the  promise 
has  spoken,  yet  it  is  as  the  shepherd  who  lays  down  His 
own  life  in  order  to  save  the  flock.  This  does  not  fit 
with  the  pi(5lure  which  men  cherished  of  a  Messiah 
coming  in  power,  who  with  His  power,  as  at  one  stroke, 
makes  an  end  to  all  oppression.  Therefore,  this 
figure  also  is  not  understood  and  the  representation  is 
not  believed.  None  abides  with  Him  except  the  few 
disciples  whom  He  has  found.  To  them  He  now 
promises  the  fruit  of  His  life  and  suffering — the  Holy 
Ghost — as  in  that  promise  of  prayer  recorded  in  the 
synoptics.     The  day  is  to  come  on  which  they  shall 

70 


THE    JOHANNEAN  ACCOUNT 

not  only  fully  understand  Him  but  know  Him  wholly, 
and  in  Him  shall  have  all  that  they  need.  ' '  In  the 
world  ye  have  tribulation;  but  be  of  good  cheer,  I 
have  overcome  the  w^orld."  But  even  the  disciples  as 
yet  did  not  understand  Him  wholly  and  fully.  They 
did  not  understand  the  word  :  "  I  came  out  from  the 
Father,  and  am  come  into  the  world;  again,  I  leave 
the  world,  and  go  unto  the  Father."  They  do  not 
yet  comprehend  the  true  tenor  of  His  high-priestly 
prayer:  **  O  Father,  glorify  Thou  Me  with  Thine  own 
self,  with  the  glory  which  I  had  with  Thee  before  the 
world  was."  But  they  understood  how  He  said: 
"And  this  is  life  eternal;  that  they  should  know  Thee, 
the  only  true  God,  and  Him  whom  Thou  didst  send, 
even  Jesus  Christ. ' '  Only  after  they  had  experienced 
it  all,  after  He  had  risen,  and  after  the  Comforter,  the 
Holy  Ghost,  had  illuminated  them,  did  everything 
come  plain  to  them.  It  became  evident  to  them  at 
length  that  Jesus  had  to  descend  into  the  deepest 
depth,  and  that  this  was  the  way  in  which  He,  the 
Father's  only  begotten  Son,  come  down  to  us,  be- 
trayed, denied,  forsaken  even  by  His  disciples,  has 
proved  Himself  our  Savior,  Helper,  King,  and  Lord 
of  God's  Kingdom.  Now  His  word  holds  good  which 
He  said  of  His  death:  "  And  I,  if  I  be  lifted  up  from 
the  earth,  will  draw  all  men  unto  Myself."  He  is  the 
Messiah,  who  proves  Himself  as  such  through  the 
Holy  Ghost,  who  glorifies  Him  and  reproves  the 
world  of  sin,  and  He  shall  once  again  return  to  search 
His  congregation,  and  to  fulfil  His  word  concerning 
the  one  flock  and  the  one  shepherd. 

Whether  the  form  of  the  thoughts  and  the  particu- 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

lar  movement  and  progress  of  the  narrative  belong  to 
the  author  or  to  Jesus  Himself  will  hardly  be  ascer- 
tained with  certaint3\  But  that  the  tenor  is  authentic, 
and  contains  no  contradicftion  to  the  synoptic  record, 
ought  to  be  clear  as  soon  as  one  has  apprehended  the 
purpose  of  this  record  and  these  performances,  and,  by 
the  side  of  it,  the  purpose  and  intent  of  the  synop- 
tic narrative.  We  understand  that  John  from  his  rec- 
ollecflions  brings  before  his  readers  those  very  things 
in  which  the  controversy  about  the  person  of  Jesus 
comes  to  a  crisis  and  a  decision.  We  also  understand 
that  from  the  beginning  he  put  everything  under  the 
aspedt  that  regards  Him  as  the  eternal  Son  of  God, 
incarnated  for  our  sakes,  about  whom  they  con- 
tended. From  this  point  of  view  He  it  is  who  suffered 
everything  that  was  done  against  Him,  was  repudiated 
and  reje(5led  in  order  not  to  judge  but  to  save.  John 
discloses  the  deepest  ground  of  history  which  his  read- 
ers can  comprehend.  He  presents  Jesus  as  one  to 
whom  he  had  united  himself  with  the  other  disciples 
from  the  beginning,  on  the  ground  of  their  belief  in  the 
Baptist's  word  that  He  is  the  Lamb  of  God.  His  word 
and  work  have  set  before  John  and  the  disciples  great 
mysteries  from  the  beginning  which  were  to  be  solved 
only  through  the  resurre<5lion.  This  mystery  consisted 
on  the  one  hand  in  the  irreconcilable  contrast  between 
His  miraculous  power  and  oneness  with  the  Father, 
and,  on  the  other  hand.  His  lowliness,  suffering,  and 
patience.  It  involves  the  paradox  that  He,  the  Son  of 
Man,  was  also  the  Son  of  God  while  He  yet  remained 
the  Son  of  Man.  When  He  has  risen  again,  however, 
everything  is  clear.     Every  opposition  to  Him  is  re- 

72 


THE    JOHANNEAN   ACCOUNT 

sistance  against  One  who,  from  eternity  and  to  eternity, 
is  God  and  Lord,  and  the  Savior  of  sinful  men. 

According  to  the  established  verdidl  of  the  Church 
(to  which  only  in  the  most  recent  time  has  objedlion 
been  made,  as  if  the  objedlion  had  established  itself  as 
self-evident)  both  accounts,  that  of  the  synoptists  and 
that  of  John,  are  right.  They  do  not  preclude  each 
other;  the  Johannean  account  was  not  given  in  order 
to  supplement  that  of  the  synoptists,  altho  it  does. 
In  neither  of  these  accounts  does  Jesus  appear  as  a 
founder  of  religion,  as  a  man  who,  through  the  ful- 
ness and  accuracy  of  His  knowledge  of  God,  His  un- 
shaken faithfulness  and  sincerity,  and  the  plenitude  of 
His  religio-ethical  do(5lrine,  had  become  the  author  of 
that  religion  that  consists  of  true  union  with  God, 
which  alone  is  true  religion.  He  does  not  fiL^r.re  in 
these  accounts  as  a  man  who,  as  Harnack  says,  does 
not  belong  to  the  narration.  According  to  all  the 
extant  accounts  —  according  to  all,  that  is,  which 
we  learn  about  Him  from  the  mouth  and  from  the 
service  of  His  disciples  and  His  first  believers — He 
is  not  the  subjetl  but  the  objeß  of  religion.  He 
teaches  us  to  know  the  Father,  He  shows  us  the 
way  to  the  Father — yes,  He  is  the  way,  and  also 
the  truth,  which  one  can  trust  forever,  and  He  is  the 
life.  He  who  has  Him  and  holds  to  Him  is  free  from 
death,  judgment,  and  perdition.  He  is  the  center  of 
the  Gospel.  He  brings  in  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and 
He  brings  that  Kingdom  to  us.  He  not  only  pro- 
claims the  forgiveness  of  sin.  He  adlually  forgives 
sin.  ''As  many  as  received  Him,  to  them  gave  He 
the  right  to  become  children  of  God,  even  to  them 

73 


THE  ESSENCK  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

that  believe  in  His  name. ' '  His  word  "It  is  I  "  is 
the  really  new  thing  which  He  has  brought,  the  ful- 
filment of  all  the  promises  of  God.  The  proof  of  His 
love — not  of  love  in  general — shows  the  adlual  fulfil- 
ment of  the  old  commandment  which  till  then  had 
never  yet  been  fulfilled.  "Fear  not,  only  believe," 
says  He.  He  will  die,  and,  indeed,  He  must  die,  in 
order  to  prove  Himself  to  the  full  the  Savior  and 
helper  of  the  world  which  killed  Him. 

But  is  all  this  corredl  now,  and  how  are  we  to  under- 
stand it?  Shall  we  accept  it  just  as  it  is  here  delin- 
eated to  us,  and  say  that  He  is  our  Savior  ?  Have  we 
here  the  pi(5lure  of  the  real  Jesus,  or  was  He  a  man 
misunderstood  by  His  disciples  and  His  believing 
congregation,  but  w^ho,  through  this  very  misunder- 
standing, had  nevertheless  become  one  who  exercised 
the  greatest  influence  upon  humanity?  Is  the  picfture 
which  we  receive  of  Him  only  the  produdl  of  an  histori- 
cal constru(5lion  which,  in  spite  of  the  contrast  between 
Jesus  and  the  Jews,  has  nevertheless  originated  under 
the  influence  of  Jewish  theology;  or  which,  on  the  other 
hand,  in  spite  of  the  f  a6l  that  the  mission  to  the  heathen 
was  first  prohibited  by  Jesus  Himself,  and  in  spite  of 
His  severe  words  concerning  the  '  'dogs, ' '  has  originated 
under  the  influence  of  heathenish  ideas  ?  Is  the  start- 
ing-point, even  the  fadl  of  the  resurredlion  of  Jesus, 
not  historic  reality  ?  Is  it  rather  a  produdt  of  Jewish 
eschatology,  an  epitome  of  the  belief  in  an  eternal 
life  which  one  may  represent  to  himself  in  this  narra- 
tive form  ?  Does  it  belong,  as  Harnack  thinks,  to  the 
fabrication  of  elements  of  the  system  of  salvation  on 
the  part  of  the  Christian  congregations  w^ho  could  not 

74 


THE    JOHANNKAN   ACCOUNT 

otherwise  represent  to  themselves  the  convi(5lion  that  |j 
Christ  was  not  immersed  in  death,  but  had  passed  to  a  \j 
higher  Hfe  in  glory,  power,  and  honors?  f 

We  must  now  picflure  to  ourselves  the  whole  series 
of  objedlions  and  doubts  urged  against  the  primitive 
Christian  accounts  of  Christ  and  against  the  apostolic 
preaching  concerning  Him. 


75 


CRITICAL  CONSIDERATIONS 


^T^  HK  question  whether  the  historical  reality  does 
^  or  does  not  correspond  to  the  pi(?ture  which 

^^^1  the  apostolic  narrative  sketches  of  the  career 
of  Jesus  and  His  purpose  or  purposes  is 
beset  with  considerable  difficulties.  These  difficulties 
are  so  great  that  one  can  not  a(5lually  attempt,  still  less 
accomplish  scientifically,  a  corre(5l  and  perfedl  critique 
of  Jesus  without  taking  them  into  consideration.  I 
say  scientifically,  but  in  reality  the  question  at  issue 
can  not  be  answered  by  scientific  processes.  The  de- 
cision for  or  against  will  come  about  differently  in 
each  case.  The  argument  is  only  supported  and  sus- 
tained by  scientific  discussions,  which,  after  all,  are  only 
of  an  intelle(5lual  kind,  whereas  the  question  itself, 
according  to  its  nature,  is  a  religio-ethical  one. 

To  begin  with,  we  are  concerned  with  that  fadl  on 
which  primarily  depend  the  entire  apostolic  teaching 
as  to  the  importance  of  Jesus  for  us,  the  whole  delinea- 
tion and  exhibition  of  His  life  and  adlivity  and  all  the 
mysteries  which  we  meet  in  it.  This  fadt  is  the  resur- 
redlion  of  Jesus.  Is  it  a  facft  ?  Harnack  denies  this, 
because,  aside  from  the  question  whether  these  accounts 
are  trustworthy,  it  stands  entirely  out  of  analogy  with 
all  that  otherwise  takes  place  in  connedlion  with  human 
history — yes,  even  out  of  analogy  with  those  resuscita- 
tions of  the  dead  which  Jesus  Himself,  according  to 
76 


CRITICAL  CONSIDERATIONS 

our  present  records,  has  undertaken.  Shall  we  be 
able  to  acknowledge  such  a  fadl,  which  is  opposed  to 
all  conditions  of  our  existence,  to  the  conditions  of  all 
other  occurrences  ?  True,  "  I  believe  in  a  resurrecftion 
of  the  dead  ' '  ;  but  is  there  really  such  a  resurre(5tion  at 
the  end  of  days,  when  the  earth  and  the  sea,  hell  and 
Hades,  give  back  their  dead  ;  when  * '  all  that  are  in  the 
tombs  shall  hear  the  voice  of  the  Son  of  God  ' '  ?  This 
is,  indeed,  the  expecftation  and  representation  of  the 
resurre(5lion  ;  but  can  it  hold  its  ground  in  the  face  of 
the  sober  and  scientific  observation  of  the  fadls  of  death 
and  corruption  ?  Shall  we,  therefore,  not  be  obliged 
perhaps  to  accept  the  newest  conception  of  Har- 
nack,  expressed  by  him  in  his  "  History  of  Dogma," 
according  to  which  the  Christian  community  itself 
produced  this  as  well  as  other  ''facfts  of  salvation," 
as  they  are  called,  by  clothing  their  hope  of  the 
future  eternal  life  in  the  thought  of  a  resurrecflion 
of  the  dead?  Did  they,  as  Harnack  thinks,  make 
Him  to  wdiom  they  owed  eternal  life  not  only  a 
partaker  in  this  fabricated  dogma  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, but  the  first  who  has  in  Himself  experienced 
this  great  salvation,  this  everlasting  deliverance? 
To  be  sure,  according  to  all  accounts  before  us  (in 
which  Harnack  perceives,  perhaps,  eleven  or  more 
contributing  hands),  the  tomb  was  empty.  But  if  it 
really  was  empty — w^e  know  not  whence  comes  this 
observation — this  and  the  fa6l  of  a  resurre(5tion  are 
still  far  apart,  since  Jesus,  as  Peter  says,  showed  Him- 
self as  the  risen  One  to  none  other  than  those  whom 
God  had  chosen  before  as  witnesses.  A  resurrection 
which,  when  it  had  just  taken  place,  required  faith 

77 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

to  be  believed — how  can  it  be  a  fa(5t  ?  For  facts,  says 
Harnack  elsewhere  (in  his  "  History  of  Dogma  "),  can 
not  be  believed  and  need  not  to  be  believed — a  proposi- 
tion which  indeed  is  not  true,  since  there  are  many 
fadls  which  one  knows  as  very  certain,  altho  one  knows 
them  only  through  belief.  Besides,  no  one  has  seen 
the  risen  One  in  the  mortal  body,  as  it  was  when  laid 
into  the  tomb.  Then  all  had  only  ' '  appearances, ' ' 
from  the  women  who  went  to  the  tomb  to  anoint  the 
body  of  Jesus  down  to  Paul.  Among  the  women 
their  experience  is  looked  upon  already  as  a  vision, 
because  they  imagined  they  saw  an  angel.  As  to 
Mary  Magdalene,  she  knew  not  the  risen  One.  And 
what  else  are  '  *  apparitions, "  "  visages, "  * '  visions, ' ' 
than  the  gathering  up  of  inner  imaginings  or  experi- 
ences into  a  pi(5lure,  in  which  that  which  we  inwardly 
carry  with  us  externalizes  itself  to  us  to  be  seen  as 
something  which  existed  outside  us?  For  example 
(not  taking  into  account  other  narrations  which  can 
hardly  be  considered  accounts  of  eye-witnesses) ,  Paul 
enumerates  a  number  of  such  appearances.  He  writes 
(I.  Corinthians  xv  :  3-8)  :  ''  For  I  delivered  unto  you 
first  of  all  that  which  also  I  received,  how  that  Christ 
died  for  our  sins  according  to  the  Scriptures  ;  and  that 
He  was  buried  ;  and  that  He  hath  been  raised  on  the 
third  day  according  to  the  Scriptures ;  and  that  He 
appeared  to  Cephas ;  then  to  the  twelve ;  then  He 
appeared  to  above  five  hundred  brethren  at  once,  of 
whom  the  greater  part  remain  till  now,  but  som  eare 
faller  asleep  ;  then  He  appeared  to  James  ;  then  to  all 
the  apostles ;  and  last  of  all,  as  unto  one  born  out  of 
due  time,  He  appeared  to  me  also. ' '  In  connecfting 
78 


CRITICAL   CONSIDERATIONS 

the  Epipliany  which  He  shared  on  the  way  to  Damas- 
cus with  the  earlier  appearances,  and  placing  these 
completely  on  a  par  with  it,  every  reason,  as  it  seems, 
disappears  for  regarding  any  of  these  appearances 
as  something  other  than  a(5lual.  They  are  not  to  be 
considered  as  mere  picflures  produced  in  the  soul  in 
some  way,  in  clear,  perceptible  form,  which  present 
Jesus,  living  on  in  a  higher  plane  of  existence,  if  there 
be  such,  or  as  transfigured. 

If  this  were  the  true  account,  then  we  have  gotten 
rid  of  the  miracle  of  the  resurredlion  only  at  the 
price  of  another  miracle  still  more  incomprehensible — 
namely,  the  miracle  of  appearances  that  are  in  all 
main  respecfts  the  same  among  all  the  persons  report- 
ing them,  or  which,  at  least,  produce  the  same  result, 
in  that  they  give  to  the  beholders  the  idea  of  the  res- 
urredlion  or  religious  conceptions  of  the  same.  On  the 
night  of  the  betrayal  all  the  disciples  are  offended  at 
Jesus.  They  abandon  their  faith  that  He  is  the  Mes- 
siah, the  Savior,  and  they  all  forsake  Him  and  flee. 
The  women,  too,  lose  their  faith,  and  come  to  the 
grave  on  the  morning  of  the  first  day  after  the  Sab- 
bath to  anoint  His  body.  This  is  all  that  is  left  to 
them.  There  they  hear  that  He  is  risen,  or  is  said  to 
have  risen.  Terror  and  fright  seize  them.  The 
women  flee  from  the  tomb,  for  they  were  afraid.  Thus 
also  the  disciples.  '  *  Certain  women  of  our  company 
amazed  us,  having  been  early  at  the  tomb,  saying  that 
they  had  also  seen  a  vision  of  angels,  which  said  that 
He  was  alive."  For  to  the  disciples  to  whom  they 
told  these  words  ' '  these  words  appeared  as  idle  talk, 
and  they  disbelieved  them."     When  Jesus  stood  in 

79 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  midst  of  them,  and  said,  "  Peace  be  unto 
you  !  "  they  were  terrified  and  affrighted,  and  supposed 
that  they  beheld  a  spirit.  In  all  cases,  however, 
trembling  and  astonishment  had  turned  into  joy,  espe- 
cially, as  the  Gospel  of  Mark  adds,  after  Jesus  ' '  had 
upbraided  them  with  their  unbelief  and  hardness  of 
heart,  because  they  believed  not  them  which  had  seen 
Him  after  He  was  risen."  How  this  change  could 
have  taken  place  inwardly  unless  the  risen  One  had 
acftually  brought  it  about  remains  inexplicable,  espe- 
cially when  we  refle(5l  that  as  yet  * '  they  knew  not  the 
Scripture,  that  He  must  rise  again  from  the  dead." 
Such  a  theory  w^ould  make  the  case  of  the  apostle  Paul 
on  the  way  to  Damascus  the  most  remarkable  of  all. 
In  his  case  any  connecfting  points,  with  movements  of 
His  inner  life,  are  the  more  out  of  question,  since  these 
movements,  at  the  most,  had  perhaps  declared  to  him 
that  Jesus  was  right,  and  that  he  was  forever  wrong, 
forever  lost.  Such  a  state  of  mind  was  the  opposite  of 
that  which  could  have  suggested  the  resurrecftion. 
How  are  we  to  understand  the  quick,  sudden  change  of 
the  women,  of  the  disciples,  of  the  brethren  ?  How 
explain  the  power  of  this  newly  acquired  convicftion 
of  a  ' '  resurredlion  ' '  so  great  that  it  called  forth  every- 
where the  same  *' appearance  " — an  appearance,  how- 
ever, which  never  afterward  repeated  itself — which 
certainly,  in  the  missionary  preaching  as  well  as 
in  the  attestation  of  the  Church  of  the  first  centuries, 
never  was  adled  upon  ?  We  know,  indeed,  the  in- 
fec5lious  strength  of  hypnosis  or  suggestion;  but  does 
any  one  seriously  believe  he  can  explain  the  ' '  appear- 
ances ' '  of  the  risen  One  after  the  analogy  of  the  ap- 

80 


CRITICAI.   CONSIDERATIONS 


pearances  of  Mary  of  Lourdes  and  others  ?  The  fadl 
that  the  incipient  disbeHef  was  changed  into  belief,  and 
that  the  missionary  preaching  from  the  beginning  de- 
manded only  faith,  and  plainly  enjoined  upon  the 
Christians  belief  in  Him  whom  they  have  not  seen 
(I.  Peter  i:  8),  bear  so  decidedly  against  the  ex- 
planation of  "the  appearances "  which  would  make 
them  the  products  merely  of  the  inner  life,  that  this  can 
no  more  remain  the  real  question.  The  theory  that  in 
these  '  *  appearances  ' '  we  have  merely  pidlures  of  the 
present  condition  of  Jesus  which  God  produces  in  the 
inner  consciousness,  implies  an  interference  with  our  life 
processes  that  we  are  not  prepared  to  believe.  Such 
inner  conceptions  would  be  far  more  likely  to  dis- 
hearten us  than  to  enlighten  us  as  to  the  present  state 
of  Jesus.  One  needs  only  to  know  the  psj^chology  of 
the  inner  life  as  it  is  related  to  the  living  God,  of  the 
real  inner  life  not  merely  imagined  in  the  study,  in 
order  from  the  very  start  to  rejeS.  such  explanations 
of  the  faith  in  the  resurre(5lion  as  absolutely  impos- 
sible. 

That  the  resurre(5lion  of  Jesus,  however,  is  con- 
ceived as  something  till  then  never  experienced, 
that  it  should  be  different  from  the  awakening  of 
Jairus'  daughter,  or  of  the  young  man  at  Nain,  and 
also  from  the  rising  of  lyazarus  from  the  grave,  is  not 
inconceivable.  Jesus  did  not  rise  as  these,  to  die 
again,  but  He  rose  to  triumph  over  every  hostile  power, 
even  over  hell  and  death.  God  has  justified  Him  in 
the  powder  of  His  spirit,  and  thus  He  became  the  first- 
bom  of  the  redeemed,  whose  redemption  is  for  all 
who   believe    in    Him,    the    surety   for    the    coming 

81 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

"liberty  of  the  glory  of  the  children  of  God."  It  is 
His  calling  to  be  the  Messiah,  and  as  Messiah  the 
powerful  Savior  and  helper;  therefore,  He  rose,  He  who 
was  laid  in  the  grave,  and  3'et  is  a  different  One;  affiidled 
with  the  scars  of  His  cross,  and  yet  living  forever; 
whom  even  closed  doors  keep  not  from  His  own. 
Through  Him  has  first  been  revealed  :  * '  It  is  sown  in 
dishonor,  it  is  raised  in  glory;  it  is  sown  in  weakness, 
it  is  raised  in  power;  it  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is 
raised  in  incorruption." 

To  this  now  is  added  the  testimony  of  the  apostle 
Paul,  which  confirms  as  decisively  as  possible  the  ac- 
counts of  the  bodily  resurredlion  of  the  crucified,  dead, 
and  buried  Christ.  How  Paul  was  convinced  of  the 
resurrecftion  of  Christ  we  have  heard  already.  That 
he  did  not  conceive  the  resurredlion  as  a  figurative  ex- 
pression for  transition  into  a  better  existence,  for  the 
lifting  up  to  a  more  complete  and  higher  form  of  ex- 
istence, w^e  learn  from  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the  first 
epistle  to  the  Corinthians.  He  puts  it  completely  on  a 
par  with  the  future  resurrecftion  for  w^hich  w^e  wait. 
This  future  resurrecftion  he  describes  as  the  completion 
of  the  redemption  in  us  through  a  final  complete  aboli- 
tion of  death  by  means  of  the  renewing  or  spiritualiz- 
ing of  our  corporeality,  w^hich,  when  it  has  been  re- 
newed, stands  related  to  the  present  body  as  the  fruit  to 
the  seed,  while  that  which  is  earthly  falls  away  wdth 
all  weakness,  sickness,  and  misery.  So,  according 
to  Paul,  did  Jesus  rise,  and  in  His  corporeality  He  ap- 
peared as  the  same  who  was  laid  into  the  grave,  and  yet 
different.  This  testimony  of  Paul  rests  upon  his  expe- 
rience on  the  way  to  Damascus.     It  is  consequently 

82 


CRITICAL   CONSIDERATIONS 


much  older  than  any  of  the  evangelical  accounts,  and 
confirms  the  theory,  therefore,  that  since  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  preaching  there  has  been  no  other 
preaching  than  that  of  the  crucified,  dead,  buried,  and 
risen  Christ.  What  remains  of  differences  in  these 
accounts  concerns  not  the  facft  of  the  resurrection,  nor 
the  facfl  of  the  different  appearances  of  the  risen  One, 
but  only  their  order,  the  communication  of  them  in 
the  circles  of  the  male  and  female  disciples  of  Jesus. 
Even  concerning  the  reception  which  the  news  of  the 
resurrecftion  found,  the  fear  and  the  terror  which  it 
excited,  the  disbelief  which  at  first  it  met,  and  which 
found  its  most  decided  and  most  prominent  repre- 
sentative finally  in  Thomas,  that  disciple  who  fore- 
saw the  death  of  Jesus  the  most  clearly  and  painfully. 
The  accounts  are  j  ust  as  accordant  as  they  are  concern- 
ing the  change  which  the  resurredlion  finally  brought 
about. 

How  will  we  now  decide  in  view  of  such  attestation  ? 
The  resurre(5lion  is,  indeed,  an  unheard  of  event  in 
the  course  of  nature  and  history,  and  it  only  remains 
to  acknowledge  the  fa<5l  in  opposition  to  this  natural 
course  of  things  or  to  deny  it  resolutely.  Accepting 
the  attestation,  we  will  have  to  renounce  the  explana- 
tion that  has  been  offered  for  the  fa(5l  that  so  soon 
after  the  death  of  Jesus  men  had  come  to  the  thought 
of  the  resurre(5lion  and  to  belief  in  the  same.  For  the 
assertion  that  the  inner  thought  of  and  faith  in  the  ex- 
altation of  the  dead  Christ  to  a  higher,  better  existence 
have  clothed  themselves  in  this  historic  form  opposes 
the  testimony  of  Paul  and  the  testimony  of  the  evangel- 
ists.    But  if  w^e   are   to   deny   the   historic  resurrec- 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


tion,  what  remains,  then  ?  Can  it  indeed  be  possible 
that  the  entire  world-historical  appearance  of  Chris- 
tianity has,  after  all,  drawn  its  world- overcoming 
power  from  imagined  apparitions,  visions,  phantoms, 
such  as  we  meet  with  so  often,  even  in  the  legends 
of  modern  history,  and  to  which  w^e  never  ascribe 
reality  ?  If  the  resurrection  is  not  a  facft,  no  matter 
how  one  attempt  its  explanation,  with  the  delusion 
concerning  it  is  connedled  also  the  delusion  concern- 
ing its  importance.  Paul  especially  expressed  himself 
to  this  effecfl,  that  there  is  therefore  only  forgiveness 
of  sins  because  Jesus  has  risen.  Through  the  suffer- 
ing and  death  of  Jesus  this  remission  is  acquired  for 
us ;  by  His  return  into  our  life  it  is  fulfilled  or  to  be 
fulfilled  on  all  those  who  believe  in  this  Jesus.  But  if 
the  resurrection  is  no  return  into  life,  w^hat  then? 
Where  is  the  forgiveness  ?  Or  can  a  serious  consider- 
ation of  the  suffering  and  death  of  Jesus  lead  to  this 
remission,  so  that  His  meekness,  remaining  the  same 
unto  death,  His  pardoning  love  of  enemies.  His  cling- 
ing to  God  and  His  faith  in  the  vidory  of  His  love, 
shall  assure  us  that  we  have  not  fallen  under  the 
vengeance  of  God,  and  may  gratefully  trust  in  His 
forgiveness  ?  Yes,  but  who,  then,  is  lost?  The  disci- 
ples, who  knew  Jesus'  meekness  and  love  and  faithful- 
ness, and  yet  forsook  Him,  or  those  who  knew  not 
Jesus  and  the  wisdom  of  God  ?  Our  sins  forgiven! — 
whoever  will  believe  this,  what  does  he  need  ? 

Starting  from  this  conception  of  His  death  and  resur- 
re(5lion,  and  going  backward  step  by  step,  the  entire 
evangelical  account  of  the  advent,  work,  and  destiny  of 
Jesus  is  depi(5led.     Had  He  not  been  raised,  then  He 

84 


CRITICAI,   CONSIDERATIONS 

could  not  have  appeared  as  Messiah,  as  chosen  by  God, 
endowed  with  powers  of  the  upper  world,  and  finally 
as  King,  appointed  by  God  Himself;  He  could  not  have 
applied  to  Himself  the  fulfilment  of  all  the  Divine 
promises,  and  thereby  the  realization  of  the  hope  of 
Israel.  Then  the  whole  Messianic  pidlure  of  the  Gos- 
pels is  wrong,  and  at  the  most  an  accommodation  to 
the  familiar  ideas  of  Israel,  in  so  far  as  such  accom- 
modation was  at  all  possible.  The  demand  of  the 
people  did  not  call  forth  a  sharp  opposition,  as  at  the 
feeding  of  the  five  thousand.  The  new  heart-cheering 
message  which  Jesus  brought,  which  was  to  work  and 
really  did  w^ork,  tho  under  diverse  veilings,  can  then 
have  consisted  only  in  the  knowledge  (which  had 
come  to  Him,  or  had  been  discovered  by  Him,  or,  if 
one  wishes,  had  fallen  to  His  lot)  of  the  true  CvSsence 
of  God  as  a  Father  loving  His  creatures,  in  place  of 
the  severe  and  inexorable  judge  represented  by  older 
laws  of  Israel.  With  this,  we  may  say,  had  come  to 
Him  also  the  idea  of  the  infinite  worth  of  our  soul, 
of  each  individual  human  soul,  wdiich  nowhere  else 
can  find  rest  and  peace,  and  can  not  otherwise  grow 
strong  for  an  energetic  life,  and  love,  and  ministry, 
save  by  giving  itself  to  and  being  seized  by  this  knowl- 
edge of  God  which  had  first  come  to  Jesus,  and  which 
was  preached  by  Him  and  retained  in  spite  of  all  the 
opposition  of  the  w^orld.  It  was  also  clear  to  Jesus 
that  one  can  not  serve  God  merely  by  fixed  ' '  statu- 
tory, ' '  required  performances,  but  only  by  giving  the 
whole  life,  the  whole  person,  to  the  service  of  the 
brethren.  For  we  see  the  brethren.  They  are 
creatures  of  God  like  ourselves.      God   we   see   not. 

85 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Therefore  to  serve  the  brethren,  that  they  have  some- 
thing of  this  better  life,  means  to  serve  God  through 
them. 

If  this  be  the  whole  account  of  the  mission  of  Jesus, 
only  that  can  be  historical  which  is  communicated  to 
us  of  His  teaching  about  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  of 
His  docftrine  about  the  Father.  Everything  else  but 
this  must  be  dedudled  —  the  influence  under  which 
the  informants  communicated  their  views  and  narra- 
tives, the  traditions  of  the  community,  the  notions 
current  in  the  community  that  have  proceeded,  for 
the  most  part,  from  Israel  and  from  Israelitish  the- 
ology. It  is,  indeed,  not  easy  to  separate  in  the 
accounts  that  which  is  genuine  from  that  which  is 
spurious,  since  in  the  accounts  of  Jesus  many  things 
are  contained  which  are  derived  from  contemporary 
notions — e.g. ,  in  the  so-called  eschatological  discourses 
about  His  return,  that  which  He  says  of  the  devil,  of 
demons  and  of  angels,  who  are  not  exacftly  figures  of 
speech  with  Him,  but  are  represented  in  parables  under 
other  images  and  are  interpreted  by  Him. 

But  the  knowledge  of  God's  fathership,  of  which 
mention  has  been  made,  and  which,  as  we  must  think, 
has  an  entirely  different  meaning  from  that  which 
we  derive  from  the  statements  of  Scripture  ;  the 
knowledge  He  is  said  to  have  acquired  of  the  in- 
finite worth  of  a  human  vSoul,  and  with  it  of  the 
treasures  called  * '  heavenly ' '  ;  His  alleged  knowledge 
of  love  and  service — these  must  give  way  to  that  other 
meaning  of  the  expression  ' '  Kingdom  of  God ' '  or 
* '  Kingdom  of  Heaven ' '  which  we  find  in  the  first 
parable  of  the  sower.     It  is  purely  a  spiritual  king- 

86 


CRITICAL   CONSIDERATIONS 

dorn,  a  purely  spiritual  government  of  God.  It  seems, 
indeed,  not  to  harmonize  with  the  instru(5lion  to  pray 
for  deliverance  from  all  evil,  and,  in  the  diredlly  fol- 
lowing parable  of  the  wheat  and  the  tares,  appears 
to  be  mixed  with  specifically  Jewish  notions  of 
the  end  and  the  final  judgment.  It  may  be  difficult 
for  us  to  separate  the  word,  or  rather  the  meaning,  of 
Jesus  from  such  additions  and  supplements  as  belong 
to  the  contemporary  notions  and  to  the  misunderstand- 
ings of  the  disciples,  but  this  must  be  undertaken. 
This  is  the  more  necessary,  since  with  it  is  connedled 
the  animus  of  the  confli6l  between  Jesus  and  His  critics 
— the  Pharisees  and  the  almost  entirely  disbelieving 
priesthood.  By  such  discrimination  alone  can  be  ex- 
plained what  otherwise  surprises  Harnack  as  Christ's 
' '  going  almost  too  far ' '  in  His  prediledlion  for  sinners. 
Jesus,  it  is  true,  had  a  '*  predilection  "  for  those  who 
were  otherwise  despised  as  * '  sinners. ' '  He  conde- 
scended to  place  Himself  on  an  equality  with  the  heathen 
who  did  not  belong  to  the  people  of  God.  He  finds 
His  disciples,  and  sele(5ls  them  from  the  circles  to 
which  men  did  not  commonly  award  the  claim  to  re- 
spedl  and  honor.  On  the  supposition  we  are  consider- 
ing, Christ  is  indeed  not  the  Savior  in  the  sense  of  the 
apostolic  account  of  Him  or  of  the  whole  New  Testa- 
ment from  the  first  page  to  the  last.  He  was  not  a 
founder  of  religion  in  the  sense  of  having  been  a  teacher 
and  lawgiver,  like  Moses,  or  Zarathustra,  or  Buddha, 
or  Confucius.  He  is  in  this  theory  a  founder  of  relig- 
ion because  He  was  the  first  indeed  who  knew  and 
lived  the  religion  of  truth  and  of  love,  proclaimed 
the  same,  and  so  promoted  it  by  life  and  dodtrine  that, 

87 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

among  all  the  rubbish  already  heaped  up  at  the  very 
beginning,  and  increased  throughout  the  centuries, 
His  truth  is  still  cognizable.  It  is  discerned,  to  be 
sure,  only  by  the  experienced,  whose  task  it  is  now 
publicly  to  defend  and  propagate  this  newly  acquired 
knowledge  in  confident  trust  in  the  power  of  truth. 
For,  in  facfl,  Jesus  is,  or  w^as,  not  the  objedl  but  the 
subjedl  of  religion,  and  there  follows  from  this  the 
critical  axiom  :  Jesus  does  7iot  belong  to  the  narrative. 

To  this  view  another  consideration  should  be  ex- 
pressed. In  trying  to  trace  back  the  pidlure  of  Christ 
and  of  His  career  to  features  which  are  alone  historic- 
ally possible,  w^e  are  not  allowed  to  acknowledge  Him 
as  miracle  worker.  Not  as  if  He  had  done  nothing  of 
that  which  is  recorded  of  Him  as  miracle.  As  an  his- 
torian, one  must  inquire  the  reason  and  the  motive 
lying  behind  ideas  as  he  finds  them  extant  in  the  ac- 
counts of  the  miracle.  But  these  accounts  are,  on  the 
other  hand,  apparently  so  mixed  with  absolute  im- 
possibilities (for  example,  the  stilling  of  the  storm  on 
the  Sea  of  Gennesaret)  that  we  are  hardly  able  to  un- 
dertake, in  all  details,  a  clear  and  corre(5l  separation  of 
that  which  adlually  took  place  from  the  legendary  ad- 
ditions. It  is  to  be  acknowledged  that  every  personal 
free  a(5lion  is  a  miracle,  but  our  thinking  is  so  domi- 
nated by  the  constant  relation  between  essential  things 
and  their  phenomena  that  it  is  a  paradox,  inexplica- 
ble if  considered  as  a  produ(5l  of  a  natural  course  of 
things,  when  w^e  conceive  personal  a(5lion  interfering 
to  make  use  of  nature  outside  the  ordinary  limits  of  this 
connedlion.  It  is,  nevertheless,  to  be  acknowledged 
that  a  personality  so  unitary,  and,  therefore,  so  spirit- 


CRITICAL  CONSIDERATIONS 


ually  powerful  as  that  of  Jesus,  is  also  capable  of 
entirely  different  performances  from  those  that  we 
can  do — performances  which  so  far  appear  to  us  as 
miracles,  as  we  are  not  able,  or  not  yet  able,  to  perform 
them  ourselves.  To  this  class  belong  the  proofs  of 
His  healing  strength  and  power  on  those  whose  life 
was  disturbed  in  consequence  of  the  environment  of 
nature  in  which  they  .stood.  But  these  are,  after  all, 
not  miracles.  They  do  not  lie  be3^ond  the  measure  of 
the  humanly  possible.  Tho  we  may  not  be  able  to  refer 
to  similar  events  in  the  history  of  humanity  within  our 
reach,  and  must  acknowledge  that  such  cures,  in  which 
recovery  takes  place  as  soon  as  the  word  is  spoken,  are, 
for  us,  outside  of  our  possibilities,  yet  such  a  power  of 
the  human  mind  is  at  least  conceivable,  in  which  one  may 
not  merely  triumph  over  one's  own  suffering,  but  also 
helps  others.  To  be  sure,  it  would  doubtless  be  neces- 
sary to  excite  in  those  who  are  to  be  helped  life 
similar  to  that  in  the  healer,  in  order  to  accomplish 
this  effecfl,  and  just  this  is  the  thing  wanting  in  most 
miracle  accounts.  This  seems  evident  in  the  cures  of 
most  of  those  whose  minds  were  suffering,  or  who  were 
mentally  deranged.  Here  we  are  not  obliged  to  con- 
fine ourselves  to  the  conception  held  by  the  people,  by 
the  evangelists,  and  probably  also  by  Jesus  Himself, 
that  the  origin  of  those  sicknesses  is  through  demo- 
niacal possession.  Operation  of  spirits  belonging  to 
another  world  we  know  nothing  about.  Demoniacal 
possession,  therefore,  does  not  exist,  but  a  spiritual 
bondage,  which,  tho  not  in  all,  yet  in  many  cases, 
yields  to  a  powerfully  working,  sound  will.  Then, 
to   be  sure,  such  necessary  accounts  as  these  :   * '  He 

89 


THE  ESSENCE  OP  CHRISTIANITY 


healed  them  all ' '  and  '  *  As  many  as  touched  were 
made  whole,"  fall  to  the  ground;  and  it  remains 
strange  that  not  one  case  is  mentioned  in  which  Jesus' 
power  failed,  whereas  a  case  is  mentioned  in  which  the 
disciples  could  not  help.  But  these  affirmations  belong 
to  the  coloring  of  the  account  we  are  considering.  We 
are  hardly  prohibited  from  also  supposing  instances  in 
which  Jesus  could  not  help.  In  such  cases  we  may 
suppose  that  in  His  wdsdom  and  love  He  would  have 
direcfted  the  desire  of  the  sick,  or  of  their  relatives,  to 
something  else  than  to  healing.  As  soon  as  we  have 
clearly  settled  it  that  the  greatest  of  all  miracles,  the 
resurredlion  of  Jesus,  has  no  historical  ground,  all  the 
elements  in  the  miracle  accounts  that  transcend  the 
measure  of  the  human,  or  of  that  wdiich  is  humanly 
possible,  disappear.  For  the  historical  inquirer  can  well 
concede  that  miraculous  things  that  cause  astonish- 
ment, and  are,  for  the  time  being,  inexplicable,  have 
taken  place  somewhere  and  anyhow,  and  that  these  only 
become  intelligible  at  a  later  stage  of  the  development 
of  the  human  intelligence  and  upon  a  more  complete 
domination  of  nature,  if  we  attain  to  such;  but  real 
miracles  he  can  never  and  nowhere  acknowledge.  He 
knows  mirabilia  but  not  miraada.  It  is  no  dogma, 
but  fa(5l,  that  there  are  not  and  can  be  no  miracles. 
Miracles  drop  out  completely  not  merely  from  the 
orderly  constitution  of  nature,  but  also  out  of  every 
historical  conne(5lion,  and  anything  that  falls  out  of 
this  connedlion  can  only  be  a  produ(5l  of  legend  or 
fi(5lion,  never  of  acftuality.^ 

To  this  category  also  belongs  what  is  reported  of 
Christ's  struggle  with  Satan   immediately   after   the 

90 


CRITICAL   CONvSIDKRATlONS 

baptism  in  the  Jordan — one  of  the  plainest  indications 
of  the  fashion  in  which  mythological  images  originate 
through  the  externalizing  and  hypostatizing  of  views, 
which  in  themselves  manifest  nothing  whatever  of 
superhuman  life  and  essence. 

But  if  in  Christ's  advent,  life,  and  work  nothing 
superhuman  or  extra  human  is  to  be  found,  then  the 
narrative  of  His  supernatural  generation,  of  His 
fatherless  birth,  and  the  virginity  of  His  mother,  falls 
out  of  history  as  a  matter  of  course.  This,  too,  is  but  an 
effort  to  explain  His  supposed  superhuman  coming.  His 
seemingly  more  than  human  essence,  as  is  also  the 
Pauline  dedu<5tion  of  the  self-emptying  of  Him  who 
was  God  and  became  man,  and  the  Johannean  descrip- 
tion of  the  Word  which  was  forever  w4th  God,  yes, 
was  God  Himself,  and  became  flesh,  as  we  are.  As  a 
matter  of  course,  the  historical  inquiry  can  award  no 
claim  to  truth  either  to  such  narratives  as  are  found  in 
Luke  and  Matthew,  or  to  such  theologumena  as  we 
meet  with  in  Paul  and  John.  The  simple  observed 
reality  of  the  commonly  known  human  essence  was 
taken  as  the  normal  aspe(5l  of  it.  It  was  not  under- 
stood, therefore,  how  from  this  ordinary  human  nature 
such  a  man  as  Jesus  could  be  normally  produced  and 
born — One  so  endowed,  so  pure.  It  followed  from  this 
that  He  was  regarded  as  God  who  had  become  man. 
Upon  this  theory  was  built  the  idea  of  the  deification 
of  our  nature.  But  whoever  once  was  man  was  man 
completely.  He  is  born  like  us,  begotten  of  a  human 
father,  born  of  a  human  mother,  fruit  of  the  nature- 
connedlion  of  humanity.  In  each  member  of  our  race 
the  age-long  life  of  humanity  reproduces  itself  in  such 

91 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

a  way  that  it  proves  itself  to  be  united  not  only  with 
the  life  of  all  times,  but  wäth  the  formative  elements 
of  its  environment.  Thus  in  the  case  of  Jesus;  He  is 
a  born  Jew,  as  Luther  has  emphasized  it  in  his  masterly 
writing:  "That  Jesus  Christ  is  born  a  Jew,"  but  a 
Jew  who  received  into  Himself  the  entire  religious  im- 
petus of  life  accumulated  in  all  time,  kept  Himself  free 
from  all  aberrations  and  perversions,  grasped  with  all 
seriousness  and  all  fidelity  His  religio-ethical  task  as 
His  life's  calling,  realized  it  and  shaped  it.  Perhaps, 
withal,  under  great  influence,  but  perhaps  independ- 
ently of  it,  He  deepened  His  knowledge  of  God  and 
strengthened  His  hold  upon  God,  so  that  He  grew 
into  complete  harmony  wäth  it,  and  thus  matured  to 
the  estate  of  that  religious  genius  which  He  remains 
to  this  day,  unique  in  our  human  history. 

Thus,  and  thus  only,  is  to  be  explained  Christianity, 
this  unique  phenomenon  in  the  history  of  humanity — 
a  religion  which  was  able,  w^ithout  support  of  the  civil 
powers,  to  become  in  a  short  time  authoritative  for  the 
ancient  world,  and  which  to-day  still  wins  the  nations 
by  awakening  and  satisfying  interests  that  can  not 
be  estimated  and  measured  in  the  light  of  any  earthly 
proportions.  Christianity  is  religion.  It  offers  con- 
nedlion  wäth  God,  but  neither  for  an  earthly  prize  nor 
for  earthly  objecfts.  Tho  many  sins  have  been  com- 
mitted and  are  still  being  committed  in  the  name  of 
Christianity,  it  always  has  appeared  to  be  the  purest 
and  the  most  effedlive  wehere  its  devotees  have  sacri- 
ficed worldly  utility  and  have  sought  it  only  on  account 
of  the  craving  of  the  soul  for  God.  For  ' '  Thou  hast 
created  us  for  Thee,  and  our  heart  is  restless  in  us 

92 


CRITICAL   CONSIDERATIONS 


till  it  rests  in  Thee. ' '  This  resting  in  God,  that  we 
may  receive  power  for  everything  which  it  is  incum- 
bent upon  us  to  do  and  to  suffer  in  our  earthly  life, 
bound  to  the  clod,  is  the  interest  which  Christianity 
satisfies.  It  satisfies  it  through  Christ's  preaching  : 
(i)  the  fatherhood  of  God ;  (2)  the  endless  w^orth  of 
a  human  soul ;  and  (3)  love  and  service  as  our  life's 
task.  Everything  else  is  accessory,  not  belonging 
to  the  case,  e.g.,  the  supposed  miracle-working  of 
Christ  with  which  His  fame  invested  itself,  and  which 
thereby  may  have  contributed  to  the  first  propagation 
of  Christianity.  But  that  whereby  He  acftually  oper- 
ated and  still  operates  are  these  three  great  truths,  the 
everlastingly  established  pillars  of  life  conformed  to 
the  image  of  God,  and — if  the  expression  be  allowed — 
existing  in  paradisaic  blessedness. 

To  be  sure,  Christianity,  so  far  as  our  knowledge 
reaches  back,  has  from  the  beginning  been  preached 
not  so  much  as  a  Gospel  of  Jesus  as  a  Gospel  about 
Jesus,  and  in  the  Gospel  of  Jesus,  Jesus  had  the  same 
position  and  importance  as  in  the  Gospel  concerning 
Jesus.  But  this  fa6l,  essential  as  it  is  in  its  bearing 
upon  the  world-historical  appearance  of  Christianity 
as  the  religion  of  the  Church,  belongs,  after  all,  only  to 
the  mythology  of  the  Christian  preaching.  The  real 
and  lasting  substance  of  the  Gospels  which  forms  the 
underground  and  background  of  this  mythology  is  this: 
the  knowledge  of  the  eternal  essence  of  God  as  the 
Father  of  His  human  children,  and  the  knowledge 
of  the  ever  unchanging  and  unchangeable  relation 
between  God  and  the  world,  with  w^hich  to  familiarize 
ourselves,  and  into  which  to  grow,  must  be  our  task, 

93 


THE  ESSENCE  OE  CHRISTIANITY 


since  now  it  has  been  made  known  by  Jesus.  Ever}^ 
advance  is  made  by  way  of  the  intelledl.  From  it 
really  proceed  the  determination  of  the  will,  tho  per- 
haps only  after  long  and  serious  vacillations.  In  this 
influencing  of  the  will  by  the  adlion  of  the  intelledl  is 
explained  the  temporary  authorization  of  the  reception 
of  such  mythological  elements  into  the  Christian  ac- 
counts as  the  effe(5luation  of  the  forgiveness  of  our 
sins  through  Christ's  death,  its  accomplishment  by  His 
resurre<5lion,  and  His  lasting  intercession  for  us  b}^  His 
exaltation  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  whither  he  went 
to  intercede  Himself  for  us  as  a  priest  before  God. 
For  now  * '  He  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  them 
that  draw  near  unto  God  through  Him,  seeing  He 
ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them. ' '  In  all 
this  the  main  thing  is  that  which  is  effeded  and  ac- 
complished by  such  preaching — namely,  a  knowledge 
of  God  and  of  the  Divine  life.  When  both  these 
things  are  accomplished,  the  adventitious  aid  by  which 
one  has  come  to  this  degree  of  development  must  and 
will  fall.  They  must  be  tolerated  as  * '  props, ' '  for  the 
time  being  necessary  to  many,  but  they  are  no  longer 
necessary  to  the  strong,  accomplished  minds  which 
have  found  or  received  the  ' '  powers, ' '  and  are  there- 
fore able  to  do  without  the  ' '  props. "  It  is  something 
of  this  kind  that  Harnack  means  to  express  when  he 
says  that  the  * '  powers  ' '  and  ' '  props  ' '  come  from  the 
same  necessity,  and  have  the  same  obje(ft ;  as  long  as 
there  are  those,  and  there  may  always  be  such,  who 
need  the  "  props,"  these  "  props  "  will  remain.  But 
the  cultured  man  can  not  use  them  because  they  give 
offense  to  his   so-called  scientific    convidlions   of  the 

94 


CRITICAL   CONSIDERATIONS 

limited  form  and  bounds  of  our  present  existence,  of 
the  unlimited  God  ruling  over  it  as  providence  or 
eternal  order.  The  religious,  cultured  man  does  not 
need  them,  because  he  has  without  them  the  truth, 
upon  the  knowledge  of  w^hich  religion  depends.  In 
maintaining  thus  the  difference  between  a  religion  of 
"powers"  and  a  religion  of  ''props,"  of  an  esoteric 
and  an  exoteric  form  of  Christianity,  the  cultured  man, 
able  to  command  the  "powers,"  is  not  hindered  from 
living  in  the  same  belief  and  in  the  same  love  as  those 
who  need  ''props"  to  reinforce  their  love,  and  he  is 
at  one  with  those  wdio  need  no  crutches.  That  on  the 
one  side  he  feels  himself  more  drawn  to  those  who 
share  his  view  is  outweighed  on  the  other  side  by  the 
ineradicable  desire  and  joy  to  be  a  child  with  all  the 
children,  and  even  to  regard  himself  as  a  child  watli 
these  mythological  notions. 

Thus  Jesus  the  Christ  is  the  Messiah  in  a  differ- 
ent sense  from  that  in  which  the  Jews  expe(5led 
Him,  and  in  a  different  sense,  moreover,  from  that 
understood  by  the  disciples,  and  in  general  not  only 
by  the  first  believers,  but  by  all  Christendom.  He  is 
the  Messiah  as  the  redeemer  from  a  religion  that 
reckons  with  false  motives  and  aims,  as  the  deliverer  of 
humanity  from  its  terror  of  an  angry  deity,  who  had 
to  be  appeased  first  with  gifts  and  sacrifices  before  He 
would  be  gracious.  He  is  the  Messiah  as  the  orig- 
inator of  a  new  order,  the  discoverer  and  fosterer  of 
the  true  religion,  who  first  knew  the  truth,  accepted 
and  pradlised  it  wath  animation,  and  lived  it  to  the  end 
with  faultless  faithfulness.  Having  become  one  with 
God  in  grateful  adoring  faith,   God  has  chosen   and 

95 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

called  Him,  with  His  motives  and  His  objecfts,  to  live 
the  life  of  God  on  earth.  Thus  men  may  not  only 
know  in  Him  and  His  condudl  of  life  what  a  God  they 
have,  but  they  also  have  in  His  condudl  the  very  con- 
du(5l  of  God  Himself.  God  through  Him  and  in  Him 
stands  related  to  us — through  Him  because  God  com- 
pletely fills  Him;  in  Him  because  Jesus  has  completely 
entered  into  the  life  of  God.  Thus,  God  found  in 
Jesus  the  man  in  whom  and  through  whom  He  stands 
related  to  the  others,  and  through  whom  and  in  whom 
the  others  also  have  their  right  relation  to  God.  That 
Jesus  has  lived  the  life  of  God  on  earth,  that  He  was 
not  only  united  with  God  in  His  thoughts  and  aims,  and 
in  His  relation  toward  the  others,  but  was,  in  fa6l,  as  one 
with  God,  this  is,  indeed,  a  conception  not  easy  to  enter- 
tain, especially  so  long  as  one  still  adheres  to  individu- 
ality, absoluteness,  and  freedom  of  the  personal  God. 
Harnack  himself  would  perhaps  not  so  express  himself, 
but  rather  would  prefer  the  rationalistic  views,  tho 
not  perhaps  the  language  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
But  we  take  up  this  view,  tho  differing  from  that  of 
Harnack,  because  it  does  more  justice  to  the  advancing 
importance  of  Jesus  even  for  the  later  generations. 
' '  Christ  lived  the  life  of  God  on  earth. ' '  This  idea  is 
certainly  hard  to  conceive  when  we  regard  God  not 
only  as  the  unapproachable  background  of  the  life  of 
Jesus,  but  as  the  true  power  which  moved  and  person- 
ally filled  Him  and  made  the  man  Jesus  to  be  the 
abode  of  God's  self-revelation  for  us.  But  is  the  diffi- 
culty of  this  conception  greater  than  the  difficulties 
which  the  other  idea  of  God,  as  the  power  ruling  the 
world  in  absolute  freedom  of  His  love,  involves  ?     Are 

96 


CRITICAL   CONSIDERATIONS 

not  the  difficulties  which  lie  in  the  idea  of  reconcilia- 
tion still  greater  ?  Does  the  thought  of  reconciliation, 
if  it  means  something  else  than  the  change  of  our  dis- 
position toward  God,  harmonize  any  better  with  the 
thought  of  a  God  exalted  above  space  and  time,  there- 
fore also  independent  of  change — yes,  even  of  the  in- 
fluence of  our  condudl  ?  And  is  not  that  adoration 
which  springs  from  the  revelation  in  Christ  of  the 
life  of  God  in  Him  far  better,  more  worthy  of  man 
and  God,  than  the  '  *  prayer  in  the  name  of  Jesus, 
through  which  we  seek  the  Father's  face  "  ? 

We  have  brought  before  us  the  picfture  of  Christ  as 
it  is  formed  on  the  basis  of  the  critical  processes  now 
going  on.  Every  one  will  concede  that  in  essentials  it 
is  correcftly  drawn.  It  is  particularly  the  pi(5lure  of 
Him  which  Harnack  has  drawn  before  his  hearers.  We 
ask  :  Is  this  drawing  scientifically  authorized  ?  Har- 
nack says  that  his  intention  has  been  to  obtain  this 
pidlure  by  way  of  historical  criticism  of  the  sources. 
Does  his  criticism  really  comprise  a  historical  critique? 
He  does  not  examine  the  sources  and  their  value  ac- 
cording to  a  historical  method.  He  decides  on  the 
contents  of  his  authorities  neither  from  their  differ- 
ences among  themvSelves,  nor  from  their  differences 
with  ulterior  authentications  and  communications,  nor 
does  he  let  pass  their  agreement.  Of  course,  acftually 
we  have  no  exa(5lly  contemporaneous  sources,  but  some 
that  are  nearly  contemporaneous,  which,  according 
to  the  declarations  of  some  of  their  authors,  go  back  at 
least  to  the  testimonies  of  eye-witnesses  and  ear-wit- 
nesses. Could  we  do  away  also  with  these  sources  as 
being,  after  all,  affecfted  by  the  standpoint  and  attitude 

97 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

of  their  authors  thirty,  fifty,  or  sixty  years  after  the 
events,  we  have  still  to  dispose  of  the  testimony  of 
the  apostle  Paul,  whose  declarations  coincide  in  the 
most  essential  points  with  the  accounts  of  those  later 
sources.  These  sources,  however,  and  also  the  Pauline 
declarations,  yield  a  different  pic5lure  from  that  drawn 
by  the  modern  critic,  whose  traits  are  not  even  shaded 
through  Jewish  sources.  Now  the  picfture  of  Christ 
to  be  derived  from  the  sources  agrees  in  no  wise  with 
any  event  otherwise  known  from  histor}^,  or  that  be- 
longs to  history,  or  is  possible  from  the  ordinary 
courses  of  history.  On  this  account  Harnack  says, 
and  many  with  him,  that  this  pidlure  is  unhistorical. 

The  significance  of  the  question  may,  therefore,  be 
stated  thus:  Is  that  what  Jesus  was,  did,  and  still  does 
to  be  accounted  antecedently  incredible  because  the 
historical  analogies  are  wanting  for  it  ?  It  is  admitted 
that  Jesus  stands  absolutely  unique  in  history.  No 
one  is  like  Him,  either  in  His  department  of  religion 
or  in  any  other  respe(5l.  So  much  the  more  it  is  now- 
required  that  His  a(5livity  shall  completely  conform 
to  laws  of  our  existence,  and  be  put  in  close  harmony 
with  nature  and  history,  if  it  is  to  be  of  importance  to 
us.  A  being  who  is  above  this  harmony  and  system 
of  nature  and  history  can  not  influence  us,  who  always 
live  and  think  in  the  terms  of  this  system.  So  argues 
the  critic.  But  even  if  it  should  be  admitted  that 
Jesus  in  all  respedls  must  be  regarded  as  belonging  to 
the  system  of  nature  and  history  whose  product  and 
producer  we  ourselves  are,  still  the  question  would  re- 
main whether  the  founder  of  Christianity,  as  He  is 
called,  has  not   differently   regarded   and   differently 

98 


CRITlCAIv   CONSIDERATIONS 

solved  this  problem?  He  was  concerned  about  our 
union  with  God.  Is  it  corre(5l  to  say  that  we  obtain 
union  with  God  because  in  His  person,  by  word  and 
life,  He  shows  us  the  way  ?  Or  is  His  claim  correcfl 
that  still  more  is  required  than  merely  such  a  showing 
of  the  way  ? 

Harnack  omits  to  ask  this,  and  instead  he  pro- 
ceeds with  his  argument  that  the  image  of  Christ,  of 
His  life  and  work,  His  passion,  death,  and  resurrec- 
tion, as  found  in  the  sources,  must  be  regarded 
as  unhistorical,  because  it  does  not  connedt  itself 
with  the  laws  of  all  other  existence  and  the  events 
that  go  on  in  the  life  of  humanity.  From  this 
ground,  therefore,  he  rejedls  one  thing  or  accepts 
another  that  his  sources  give  him,  and  opposes  the 
apostolic  preaching  of  the  Gospel  about  Jesus  in  its 
most  fundamental  points.  The  point,  however,  which 
is  thus  decisive  for  his  critique,  and  which  determines 
his  critical  treatment  throughout,  is  in  reality  nothing 
else  than  a  dogma.  Under  cover  of  the  authority 
of  his  name,  he  calls  his  treatment  a  historical  critique; 
we,  on  the  other  hand,  must  refuse  this  critique  as 
being  dogmatically  biased.  This  dogmatic  tendency 
Harnack  himself  admits  by  still  accepting  things  and 
events  which,  as  he  says,  a  time  mor-e  advanced  in  the 
knowledge  of  the  natural  sj^stem  of  things  not  only 
ought  to  rejec5l,  but  in  all  probability  will  rejedl.  Thus 
he  prepares  himself  for  an  ever  greater  emptying  of  his 
Christ  pidlure,  not  only,  as  he  thinks,  of  every  super- 
human trail,  but  of  every  relation,  even  the  remotest, 
to  that  Christ  to  whom  centuries  and  millenniums  now 
have  prayed. 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Meanwhile,  in  refusing  Harnack's  critique  as  dog- 
matically biased,  we  do  not  thereby  mean  to  affirm 
that  it  is  a  mistake  to  approach  our  sources  wdth  dog- 
matic criticism.  On  the  contrary,  only  dogmatic  criti- 
cism can  decide  the  question^  and  all  historical  criticism 
receives  its  power  and  the  dire(ftion  of  its  process  from 
dogmatic  criticism,  not,  to  be  sure,  from  the  presup- 
position of  a  certain  dogma,  but  from  criticism  whose 
first  and  most  serious  question  is  whether  the  view  and 
estimation  of  the  person  and  history  of  Jesus  that  is 
expressed  in  the  sources  is  authorized  or  not.  This 
question,  however,  can  only  be  answered  as  an  ethico- 
religious  question. 

Historical  criticism  can  the  less  decide,  since  the 
question  is  whether  or  not  the  history  wnth  which  we 
are  here  concerned  stands  a(flually  outside  of  all  other 
history,  and  thus  differs  from  all  other  history.  The 
Christ  whom  the  apostolic  account  describes  has  for 
His  objecft  to  save,  not  humanity  in  general,  least  of 
all  the  wise,  the  noble,  the  mighty  of  earth,  but  the 
sinners  and  the  whole  world  of  sinners.  Has  Jesus 
solved  this  problem  ?  Has  He  solved  it  for  me  and  in 
me  ?  Could  He  and  can  He  solve  it  ?  This  question 
can  not  at  all  be  historically  decided,  tho  it  concerns  a 
facfl  which  is  either  real  or  an  illusion.  But  in  order 
to  decide  this  question  it  requires  not  a  ' '  scientific ' ' 
disinterestedness,  but  it  is  to  be  put  and  treated,  as 
Harnack  also  treats  it,  as  a  question  of  the  most  burn- 
ing personal  interest.  One  must  enter  into  a  personal 
relation  to  Jesus,  and  that  not  a  relation  in  which,  by 
certain  claims  which  he  makes  or  repudiates,  one  re- 
stridls  from  the  very  beginning  the  influence  of  Jesus 

100 


CRITICAL   CONSIDERATIONS 

on  men  ;  but  where  one  examines  the  records  to  ascer- 
tain whether  the  effec5l  which  proceeds  from  that  influ- 
ence is  a  redeeming  one  or  not,  and  whether  or  not 
this  Jesus,  as  He  is  here  "  described  before  our  eyes," 
has  redeemed  us,  and  still  redeems  from  the  ban  of 
sin,  of  guilt,  of  death,  and  the  judgment. 

Harnack  has  omitted  this  task.  He  has  not  even 
mentioned  it  to  his  readers.  From  the  very  start  he 
has  regarded  it  as  the  self-evident  standpoint  of  his- 
torical criticism  that  all  essential  features  by  which 
the  Christ-pi(5lure  of  the  apostolic  predicflion  charadler- 
istically  detaches  itself  from  every  other  historical  pic- 
ture are  not  only  unessential,  but  for  the  most  part 
incorrecft.  Only  those  features  are  essential  and  cor- 
rect in  which  His  figure,  aside  from  its  superior 
endowment,  its  faithfulness,  its  vocation,  the  fulfilment 
of  it,  appears  as  not  at  all  different  from  our  own.  But 
before  we  prosecute  on  our  part  this  task  omitted  by 
Harnack,  and  examine  the  credibility  of  the  apostolic 
or  New  Testament  conception  of  the  person,  history, 
and  work  of  Christ,  let  us  examine  and  estimate  the 
merit  of  the  pidlure  of  Christ  drawn  by  Harnack. 


101 


VI 

ANTI-CRITIQÜE 

I  Y\  loES  this  figure  of  the  non-risen  Christ,  whose 
LÜJ  body  was  left  to  decay  while  His  spirit  went  to 
^^y  God,  satisfy  us  ?  The  figure  of  the  perfe<5lly 
pure  One,  of  the  inspired,  loving,  patient 
teacher,  of  the  faithful  leader  of  the  mighty  Lord  and 
Master,  who  indeed  has  not  proved  Himself  by  ac5lual 
miracles,  but  continually  proves  Himself  by  what  is 
more  than  miracles,  by  His  power  to  attra(5l  us  to 
Himself — does  this  satisfy  us  ?  It  must  indeed  be  a 
great  influence  which  He  exercises,  a  powerful  effec5l 
proceeding  from  Him,  when  He  urges  us  to  believe 
w^hat  He  has  believed  in  the  way  He  believed  it,  when 
He  animates  us  to  love  as  He  loved,  when  He  strength- 
ens us  to  triumph  over  all  opposition  of  the  world  as 
He  triumphed — namely,  through  a  quiet,  patient  suffer- 
ing, in  reliance  on  the  final  vi(5lory  of  truth  over  all 
meanness,  envy,  and  obstinacy  of  the  world !  Is  this 
not  sufl&cient  for  a  reformation  of  the  world — more 
necessary  to-day,  perhaps,  than  ever?  Is  it  not 
sufficient  for  a  world  which,  as  it  seems,  is  to-day  more 
susceptible  to  the  truth  than  ever,  even  tho  not  to  the 
truth  of  the  church-preaching  ? 

We  ask  not  whether  this  Christ-pidlure  satisfies  our 
claims.  Human  claims  are  often  very  small  and 
trifling,  and  the  ideas  by  which  we  are  moved  are 
often  very  poor.    This  is  well  illustrated  in  most  of  the 

102 


ANTI-CRITIQUK 


political  parties  of  our  day.  How  poor  are  the  claims 
which  they  make  to  the  understanding  and  will  of 
those  who  belong  to  them!  How  easily  are  they  satis- 
fied with  words  which  mean  nothing,  and  which  only 
serve  to  weaken  the  impression  which  the  opponent 
might  make!  How  superficially  are  questions  treated 
which  ought  to  stir  society  to  its  profoundest  depth 
to  seek  a  solution  which  the  shallow  journalist  cer- 
tainly can  not  give!  But  still  more  do  we  perceive 
this  in  the  history  of  religious  movements  themselves, 
which  are  but  seldom  influenced  b}^  original  and  great 
thoughts,  but  mostly  follow  the  suggestions  of  small 
minds,  and  finally  lose  themselves  in  the  sand.  How 
poor  are  the  religious  and  ethical  fundamental  ideas  of 
Roman  Catholicism — the  idea,  for  instance,  of  making 
redress  for  our  sins  by  the  confession  of  the  mouth  to 
the  satisfacftion  of  the  work  and  afflicftion  of  the  heart; 
or  the  idea  that  an  especially  distinguished  Christian 
may  have  acquired  a  stock  of  holiness;  or  the  idea  of 
the  mediatorship  of  the  priests  !  How  easily  intelli- 
gible is  the  gradual  degeneration  of  the  Christian  faith 
and  the  religious  life  by  falling  back  into  the  lower 
stages  of  heathenish  views  of  life  and  death,  of  the 
Deity  and  His  demands  on  men,  their  aims,  and  their 
ability  to  perform  !  And  yet  how  tenaciously  and 
vitally  the  priesthood  and  people  cling  to  these  views, 
and  how  easily  are  even  evangelical  Christians  often 
dazzled  by  the  little  allegorical  imagery  and  formalism 
of  Catholicism  !  No,  it  is  not  from  a  consideration  of 
that  which  we  claim  that  we  can  pass  a  judgment  on 
the  worth  or  worthlessness  of  views,  persons  or  events. 
This  is  often  done,  and  the  judgment  is  influenced  by 

103 


THE  KSSKNCB  OK  CHRISTIANITY 

the  greatness  or  smallness,  the  force  or  weakness,  of 
the  claim.  We  ask,  therefore,  more  corredlly  :  Does 
that  Christ-picture  that  criticism  draws  satisfy  our 
wa7its  f 

First  of  all  we  must  consider  the  wants  with 
whose  satisfaction  we  are  concerned.  What  are  they  ? 
Are  they  spiritually  intelle(5lual,  or  are  they  esthetic 
w^ants?  These  are  comparatively  easy  to  be  satis- 
fied. A  figure  like  the  Biblical  and  ecclesiastical 
Christ  gives  the  greatest  stimulus  to  our  intelledl. 
From  such  a  consideration  the  sketch  or  construdlion 
has  been  undertaken  in  which  every  superhuman  and 
every  extra  human  feature  is  erased,  and  only  a  perfedl, 
all-comprising  human  being  is  left,  tho  this  is  en- 
hanced in  the  highest  degree.  Paul  not  only  knew 
but  openly  declared  that  the  preaching  of  Christ  has 
unendurable  severities  for  those  who  seek  after  wisdom, 
but  who  are  not  able  to  comprehend  the  Divine  wisdom 
surpassing  in  its  heights  all  human  wisdom,  and  there- 
fore regard  it  as  foolishness.  Nevertheless,  and  just 
on  this  account,  He  demanded  faith  for  His  preaching; 
not  a  faith  relying  on  the  authority  of  the  apostle 
(how  should  he  demand  of  the  Gentiles  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  His  authority?),  but  a  faith  which  itself 
convinced  of  the  truth  of  His  preaching  in  spite  of  all 
gainsaying  arguments,  a  faith  which  silenced  all 
counter-arguments  by  overwhelming  considerations, 
and  accepted  the  w^ord  of  the  apostle.  It  is  evident 
that  the  tenor  of  the  apostolic  preaching  is  in  the 
strongest  opposition  to  the  movement  of  our  thoughts, 
and  that  our  experience  rejedls  this  preaching  as  un- 
necessary or  in  the  most  favorable  case  as  impossible. 

104 


ANTI-CRITIQUE 


Nevertheless,  it  shows  itself  to  be  wisdom,  tho  not  a 
wisdom  set  in  comparison  with  a  wisdom  expressing 
itself  differently  and  coming  to  other  results,  but  only 
a  wisdom  by  which  our  spiritually  intellec5lual  wants 
are  fully  satisfied.  But  such  satisfadlion  depends  on 
the  satisfacflion  of  other  wants,  w4iich  everywhere  pre- 
cede the  intelle(5lual  wants.  These  are  our  moral 
w^ants  and,  closely  connecfted  therewith,  our  relig- 
ious. 

But  our  moral  wants  are  different.  Some  say  that 
they  need  the  Biblical,  or,  as  they  express  it,  the 
ecclesiastical  Christ,  for  their  peace  and  for  the 
living  of  a  blessed,  vigorous  life.  Others  deny  this, 
and  say,  if  they  need  a  Christ  at  all,  they  want  such 
a  one  as  we  endeavored  to  delineate  after  the  model  of 
Harnack  and  others,  as  distinguished  from  the  Biblical 
Christ.  Who  decides?  The  former,  as  it  appears, 
are  vigorous  natures  not  knowing  at  all  the  feeling  of 
weakness,  of  infirmity,  of  moral  disability  to  work,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  sense  of  the  greatness  of  their  guilt. 
Never,  indeed,  have  they  come  to  utter  the  sigh  : 
' '  Whither  shall  I  go  because  I  am  oppressed  with 
many  and  great  sins  ? ' '  Such  men  admit  that  there 
are  men  w^ho  have  put  themselves  outside  of  the  peace 
of  human  society,  be  it  through  the  fault  of  their  edu- 
cation, or  through  the  circumstances  in  which  they  are, 
or  through  the  nature  of  their  environment,  tho  in  all 
cases  through  some  guilt  of  their  own.  What  becomes 
of  them,  what  future  awaits  them  after  this  life,  no 
one  knows.  As  long  as  one  is  not  molested  or  hurt  by 
them,  one  is  inclined  to  be  indulgent,  provided  only 
they  are  made  harmless  in  a  permissible  manner.     One 

105 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

claims  for  himself  indulgence,  for  "man  errs  as  long 
as  lie  strives, ' '  and  * '  we  all  stumble. ' ' 

But  we  only  need  a  degree  of  indulgence,  which  is 
offered  to  every  serious  and  honest  endeavor,  offered 
to  finite  man  in  his  circumscribed  finite  limitation, 
offered  over  against  his  capacity  to  err,  as  a  pardon 
not  only  for  his  belated  conditions,  but  also  for  his 
positive  errors,  if  he  only  tries  to  amend  them  and 
himself.  If  the  representatives  of  this  much-propagated 
view  can  get  on  with  a  Christ  who  is  nothing  essen- 
tially different  from  themselves,  except,  possibly,  more 
perfedl,  more  ideal,  more  pious  ;  if  with  the  Biblical 
Christ,  the  Christ  of  the  New  Testament  accounts,  they 
will  have  nothing  to  do,  but  are  in  the  most  decided 
conflidl,  not  only  from  intelledlual  but  also  moral  rea- 
sons, who  proves  to  them  that  they  are  wrong  ?  Who 
proves  to  them  that,  in  their  judgment  of  themselves  and 
their  verdidl  about  Christ,  they  are  wrong  ?  Who  proves 
that  those  deeply  afflidled,  deeply  humbled  natures, 
conscious  of  their  guilt,  seeking  only  mercy  and  for- 
giveness, like  the  publican,  are  right  in  their  judg- 
ment of  themselves  and  in  seeking  after  mercy,  with 
their  faith  in  the  mercy  of  Christ  and  the  love  of  God 
alone  ? 

And  yet  it  must  be  possible  to  convince  every 
one  of  moral  or  ethico-religious  truth,  tho  it  is  not 
meant  thereby  that  every  one  will  be  convinced. 
For  moral  and  religious  truth  reckons  with  freedom. 
Whether  a  man  will  acknowledge  moral  and  religious 
truth  which  concerns  him  is  a  matter  of  his  will.  If 
he  will  not,  he  puts  himself  indeed  in  opposition  to  the 
truth  which  has  been  attested  to  him,  but  he  sees  hini- 

106 


ANTI-CRITIQUE 


self  at  once  obliged,  in  order  not  to  be  regarded  as 
intelledlually  lower,  to  establish  iutelle(5lually  his  oppo- 
sition, and  thus  to  maintain  an  apology  for  his  coudu6l. 
That  this  apology  then  takes  the  form  of  an  attack 
upon  the  supposed  truth,  its  adherents  and  representa- 
tives, is  not  surprising.  It  were  surprising  if  it  w^ere 
otherwise.  On  this  account  are  all  apologies  of  truth 
fruitless  for  those  who  are  resolved  not  to  acknowledge 
the  truth,  or  fruitless  so  long  as  the  confli(ft  against  such 
the  decision  lasts.  A  cogent  argument  which  abrogates 
freedom  of  decision  and  which  is  completely  demonstra- 
tive, like  an  argument  in  mathematics  or  the  natural 
sciences,  does  not  and  can  not  exist  in  the  pres- 
ent case.  This  is  not,  however,  because  the  truth  is 
questionable  !  The  propositions  which  are  concerned 
here  are  more  important  than  all  propositions  of 
mathematics  and  natural  sciences,  tho  they  require  an 
entirely  different  method  of  proof;  and  that  they  can 
only  be  believed  and  accepted  by  the  free  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  will  is  precisely  their  value  and  loftiness. 
lyOve  with  which  we  are  loved  by  men  can  not  be 
absolutely  demonstrated ;  all  its  proofs  may  be  re- 
garded as  selfishness.  But  how  poor  is  the  life  of  him 
who  believes  not  in  love  ! 

From  such  considerations  we  may  safely  assert  the 
proposition  upon  which  the  argument  depends — viz., 
that  it  must  be  possible  so  to  describe  the  moral  wants, 
the  wants  of  the  sinful  man,  to  fulfil  which  Christ  ap- 
peared, that  one  can  generally  decide  whether  he  can  be 
satisfied  by  this  pi(5lure  of  Christ  or  that.  For  Christian- 
ity, with  its  gift,  the  grace  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus,  and 
the  power  of  redeeming  grace,  comes  forward  with 

107 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

claim  to  credibility  not  only  just  as  great  as  the  claim 
of  the  law,  but  even  greater,  or,  more  correcftly  speak- 
ing, still  more  powerful.  Whether  it  is  believed  is 
another  matter.  We  therefore  put  the  question  thus : 
Does  the  Christ,  as  we  have  endeavored  to  portray 
Him,  according  to  the  old  rationalistic  and  according 
to  the  most  recent  views,  satisfy  the  moral  wants  ? 

In  the  outset  it  seems  as  if  He  did  satisfy  them.  He 
shows  us  a  harmoniously  perfec5l,  moral  life  satisfied  in 
itself,  whose  ideality  and  idealism  attrac5l  us  irresist- 
ibly and  with  powerful,  yes,  with  too  powerful,  force 
diredl  us  into  the  same  paths  in  which  Jesus  went. 
Who  could  and  would  not  follow  where  such  a  prede- 
cessor tells  and  shows  us  the  w^ay  ?  With  the  most 
careful  observance  of  the  so-called  statutory  law, 
one  by  no  means  satisfies  the  absolutely  cogent  de- 
mands of  moral  truth  on  the  whole  life  by  free  obe- 
dience or  by  a  life  burning  with  love.  Tho  it  may  be 
difficult  for  us  to  follow  Jesus  in  this  way,  we  try  it, 
and  we  derive  ever  new  courage  from  looking  at  Him 
and  from  His  example.  To  be  sure.  He  never  fell, 
and  he  alone  has  fully  lived  the  truth  and  pradlised  it 
faithfully.  We  fall  again  and  again,  but  this  is  indeed 
the  lasting  difference  between  Him  and  us:  His  total- 
ity and  our  incompleteness,  His  faithfulness  and  our 
unfaithfulness,  His  constancy  and  our  ever-repeated 
falling,  His  stability  and  our  continual  vacillations.  But 
on  just  this  very  account  we  need  Him,  in  order  to  be 
influenced  by  Him  again  and  again,  and  to  go  again 
and  again  to  be  shown  the  path  where  looking  back- 
ward only  detains  and  hinders,  along  which  one  only 
advances  by  continually  looking  upward  and  forward. 

108 


ANTI-CRITIQUB 


Jesus  shows  us  what  man  can  be  and  do,  and,  tho  we 
can  not  be  what  He  was,  or  do  what  He  did,  and  shall 
never  accomplish  it  as  long  as  we  live,  we  nevertheless 
can  follow  Him.  For  this  reason  He  was  man,  wholly 
man.  He  shows  us  a  Kingdom  of  purely  spiritual  ob- 
je(5ls  ;  He  calls  it  the  Kingdom  of  God,  a  realm  in  which 
we  do  God's  will  or  the  whole  truth,  and  serve  in  love  ; 
in  which  we  are  loved  of  God  and  are  the  beloved  of 
God.  He  is  a  power  that  freely  displays  Himself 
in  men  who  have  risen  from  the  dark,  natural  ground 
of  their  existence,  and  have  suffered  themselves  to  be 
lifted  up  to  this  luminous  height.  To  live  by  this 
power  and  to  live  for  this  life  raises  us  above  all  the 
misery  of  daily  existence.  Thus  one  becomes  inwardly 
lord  over  the  world.  Tho  we  belong  to  the  world,  yet 
we  rise  above  it.  Thus  one  learns  to  endure  what  he 
suffers  from  the  world,  as  Jesus  bore  it,  without  being 
turned  away  from  the  truth  of  his  motives  and  objec5ls. 
For  from  this  inner  height  of  our  freedom  from  the 
world,  and  in  our  dominion  over  the  power  of  its 
bondage,  nothing  and  no  one  can  throw  us  down  as 
long  as  we  will  not  yield.  Thus  Jesus  teaches,  thus 
His  example  helps  us  to  live  and  suffer,  and  to  be  and 
remain  free.  He  teaches  us  to  love  our  fellow  com- 
batants as  well  as  our  opponents,  who  are  our  oppo- 
nents only  because  the  glory  of  Christ  and  of  His  way 
has  not  jQt  risen  to  them.  He  convinces  us  that  to  live 
and  to  love  belong  together,  that  to  love  means  only 
to  live,  that  only  that  life  is  worth  anything  which  is 
a  life  in  love,  and  that  only  a  life  in  love  has  in  itself 
the  promise  and  the  surety  of  eternity.  For  we  have 
our   life   only   from   each  other   and  only  with  each 

100 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

other,  and  therefore  we  have  it  only  by  loving.  All 
other  life  is  only  semblance,  and  becomes  a  lie  and 
must  perish.  Only  this  life  in  love  is  real  life,  only 
this  is  satisfied,  eternally  satisfied,  and  therefore  has 
everlasting  existence.  This  life  is  a  blessed  life,  in 
which  one  so  lives  for  the  other  that  each  thinks  no 
longer  of  himself,  but  only  of  others.  Whether  eternity 
is  an  everlasting  continuation  of  this  life,  or  whether 
it  is  only  the  freedom,  satisfadlion,  and  an  independ- 
ence from  the  world,  and  the  change  and  misery  that 
is  to  be  expressed  through  it,  is  of  no  consequence. 
For  in  this  consists  the  satisfadlion  and  blessedness  : 
that  one  needs  nothing  more  and  thinks  no  more  of 
himself,  but  only  of  others. 

Thus  Jesus  lived,  one  with  God  and  one  with  us. 
He  is  on  this  account  not  only  our  Father  but  the 
power  which  to-day  still  carries  us  along  and  draws 
men  to  Him,  and  will  so  long  as  the  world  shall  exist, 
altho  He  was  but  a  man.  But  these.  His  after-effecfls, 
are  perfedlly  unique,  corresponding  to  the  uniqueness 
of  His  person  and  of  His  calling — after-effedls  which 
can  not  be  found  again  and  can  not  repeat  them- 
selves, tho  they  are  only  after-effedls  of  His  historical 
appearance.  For  this  was  His  calling,  to  stand  as  the 
first  and  unique  witness  of  God  in  history  as  a  per- 
petual reminder  of  God,  and  as  the  everlasting 
leader — yes,  more  than  leader — for  us.  He  showed 
us  by  His  life  what  it  means  to  be  man,  and  thus,  and 
only  thus,  how  the  individual  and  the  individual  soul 
has  endless  worth. 

Incessantly  Jesus  draws  us  with  Him  into  the  patli 
where  He  walked,  and  which  He  opened  and  showed 

110 


ANTI-CRITIQUE 


to  us.  He  shows  us  God  as  the  loving  Father  ;  He 
helps  us  to  lay  hold  of  Him  who  wishes  and  desires 
nothing  else  than  that  we  live  for  the  brethren,  and 
thereby  for  Him,  for  His  Kingdom  and  its  obje(5ls, 
and  serve  them  fully  and  wholly  wath  all  joy  and 
willingness.  In  doing  this,  in  wishing  this,  in  procur- 
ing this,  in  following  Jesus,  becoming  one  with  Jesus, 
pursuing  this  w^ay,  as  He  has  been  one  with  us  before 
ever  we  went  this  way,  we  now  a(5l  and  w^alk  accord- 
ing to  His  will  and  toward  His  objedls.  For  these  we 
now  exist,  and  thus  we  are  really  one  in  spirit  with 
Him.  Then  we  are  sure  of  His  forbearance  at  our 
defedls,  our  shortcomings,  our  wavering.  For,  tho 
fallen,  we  remain  not  on  the  ground  ;  in  the  strength 
of  the  inspiration,  3^es,  the  irresistible  moral  urging, 
which  proceeds  from  Him,  we  always  have  power  to 
get  up  again  and  indefatigably  to  goon.  We  condemn 
our  defe(fts,  our  vacillation,  and  wavering.  On  this 
ground,  should  not  forgiveness  be  sure  to  us  ? 

On  this  wise,  in  this  way,  w^hich  we  can  hardly 
delineate  more  seriously  than  is  here  done,  this  Christ- 
pi(5lure,  this  pidlure  of  the  Man  who  has  lived  and  who 
has  come  to  His  goal,  of  the  spiritual  ruler  of  humanity 
through  His  teaching  and  life  for  all  times,  is  to  satisfy 
our  moral  needs.  But  what  pity  that  sin  is  7io  more 
si7i !  It  is  finitude,  error,  imperfedlion,  weakness, 
mistake,  but  no  sin  !  In  this  view  one  reckons  not 
w4th  a  living  God,  differing  from  us,  before  whose 
judgment-seat  we  all  must  appear,  nor  with  the  God 
who,  under  no  circumstances,  wills  the  sin.  Sin  and 
finitude,  sin  and  weakness,  sin  and  error  are  near  to 
each  other,   and  weakness  and  error   originated  first 

lii 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

through  sin,  finitude  and  limitedness  became  first  sin- 
ful through  sin.  But  sin  itself  is  a  diredl  opposition 
to  the  will  of  God,  is  that  which  God  does  not  will, 
which  He  denies,  which  He  opposes,  wherever  and 
however  it  may  assert  itself.  For  a  time,  perhaps,  one 
may  resign  himself  to  the  dream  that  this  Christ-pi6lure 
satisfies  ;  but  in  truth  it  only  satisfies  him  who,  in 
the  first  place,  remembers  not  the  living  God,  who 
needs  not  God  and  prays  not  to  Him.  It  satisfies  only 
such  fundamental  ethical  views  as  we  meet  with  in  large 
circles,  views  which  make  all  morality  come  out  after 
the  law  of  development  from  primitive  conditions,  which 
teach  that  man  becomes  man  by  lifting  himself  from  the 
dark,  material  ground  from  which  He  is  said  to  have 
ascended.  In  short,  this  Christ-pidlure,  this  reverse  of 
all  development,  this  revolution  in  place  of  evolution, 
satisfies  only  views  which  know  not  a  fall.  But  where 
one  is  in  earnest  to  follow  that  w^hich  this  picture  is  to 
show  us,  and  where  one  is  in  earnest  to  reckon  with 
consciousness — nay,  with  the  belief  that  we  finally 
have,  nevertheless,  to  deal  with  the  living  God,  before 
whom  we  must  give  an  account  for  our  deeds,  our 
thoughts  and  our  desires — there  this  pi(5lure  comes 
upon  painful  experiences.  The  experience  recurs 
which  one  of  the  greatest  of  our  race  once  expressed 
in  words  that  to  this  day,  excepting  in  some  small 
variation,  are  yet  recognized  as  sad — yes,  as  most 
sad  truth.  It  is  experience  which  we  can  not  do 
away  with  by  the  remark  that  it  can  not  claim  uni- 
versal validity  because  it  is  conne6led  with  special 
aberrations — namely,  with  the  aberrations  of  Pharisa- 
ism.    I  mean  that   experience    of   the  apostle   Paul, 

112 


ANTI-CRITIQUE 


which  he  describes  in  Romans  vii  :  "For  to  will  is 
present  with  me,  but  to  do  that  which  is  good  is  not. 
I  find,  then,  the  law  that,  to  me  who  would  do  good, 
evil  is  present,  .  .  .  bringing  me  into  captivity  under 
the  law  of  sin,  which  is  in  my  members."  God  is 
never  and  nowhere  satisfied  with  the  good  will,  and 
God's  law  had  and  has  the  special  task  to  urge  upon 
the  whole  people  the  knowledge  of  sin.  But  what  is 
to  take  place  when,  as  Paul  saj's  again,  every  mouth 
is  stopped,  and  all  the  w^orld  is  brought  under  the 
judgment  of  God  and  is  obliged  to  undergo  the  pun- 
ishment ?  Do  we,  then,  still  believe  we  are  able  to  rise 
to  the  level  of  this  Christ-pi6lure,  and  forget  what  is 
behind,  in  order  to  go  forward  wdth  ever  new  resolu- 
tion and  zeal  ?  Is  guilt  merely  a  thought  which  one 
can  give  up,  or  a  ban  which  presses  us  down  and  keeps 
us  down,  even  tho  we  should  like  to  forget  it  a  thou- 
sand times  ? 

We  have  a  remarkable  document  from  the  writings  of 
Pharisaic  Judaism,  coming  from  the  years  immediately 
after  the  destrudlion  of  Jerusalem — the  so-called  fourth 
book  of  Esdras.  The  author  frankly  acknowledges  the 
judgment  of  God  upon  Israel  in  the  destru(5lion  of 
Jerusalem,  altho  he  wrongly  ascribes  the  motive.  He 
also  acknowledges  the  irrefragable  moral  duty  of  Israel 
to  realize  the  law  of  God,  tho  he  does  assert  it  in  rela- 
tion to  himself  and  to  Israel.  Still,  more  zealously — 
more  zealous  than  ever  before — the  people  must  follow 
after  the  fulfilment  of  the  law.  Then  will  they  know, 
what  every  wise  and  prudent  man  knows  already  of 
himself,  that  we  sin  under  compulsion.  Sin  dwells 
for  once  in  us.     This  is  Adam's  fault,  through  whom 

113 


THE  KSSHNCH  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

sin  came  into  the  world.  "  O  thou  Adam,  what  hast 
thou  done  ? ' '  w^as  the  complaint  of  the  righteous.  On 
account  of  the  existing  sin,  God  has  made  known  the 
law  '(for  the  legislation  is  regarded  as  the  promulgation 
of  righteousness,  not  the  putting  of  it  into  effedl),  that 
the  children  of  Israel  should  live  as  closely  as  possible 
in  accordance  with  the  law.  If  they  do  this  they  come 
to  judgment  with  a  treasure  of  good  works,  which  are 
balanced  against  their  sins,  and  have  the  prospedl  that 
God  will  pardon  them.  To  be  sure,  they  have  no  cer- 
tainty of  pardon,  because  they  do  not  live  on  a  forgive- 
ness already  realized,  but  only  in  the  hope  of  forgive- 
ness. Whoever  receives  this  forgiveness  will  wonder 
at  the  greatness  of  God's  mercy.  But  God  is  still 
merciful,  and  to  whom  should  He  be  merciful  if  not 
to  those  who,  by  obedience  to  His  will,  have  labored 
for  mercy  ?  For  He  is  the  merciful  Judge  :  '  *  For  if  He 
did  not  pardon  them  that  were  created  by  His  word, 
there  would,  peradventure,  be  ver}^  few  left  in  an 
innumerable  multitude  "  (4  Bsdras,  vii :  139,  140). 

Do  you  think  this  solution  of  the  question,  which 
must  necessarily  engage  every  honest,  aspiring  man,  to 
be  correc5l  ?  And  do  you  think  the  answer  has  been 
given  to  our  question,  whether  the  new  and  newest 
Christ-pidlure  satisfies  those  needs  whose  satisfadlion 
we  seek  ?  Certainly  not  !  But  it  only  expresses  in  un- 
colored  form  that  which  is  thought  by  those  who  dream 
a  forgiveness  of  sins  or  of  failings  on  the  basis  of  an 
endeavor  to  follow  Jesus.  For  whether  the  law  or  the 
modern  Christ-pi(5lure,  they  amount  to  the  same,  and 
the  modern  Christ- pidlure  would  at  the  most  make  the 
moral   demand   appear   deeper,  more   comprehensive, 

114 


ANTI-CRITIQUK 


and,  therefore,  also  more  difficult.  The  animation, 
however,  which  is  awakened  by  such  a  powerful  type 
as  Jesus — provided  it  is  awakened  at  all — will  soon 
turn  into  the  desperate  and  despairing  question  :  * '  Oh, 
wretched  man  that  I  am!  who  shall  deliver  me?" 
Tho  the  modern  Christ  may  satisfy  the  current  views 
of  the  cultured,  and  of  all  those  who  absolve  them- 
selves. He  certai7ily  does  not  satisfy  our  ivajits.  Will  the 
Christ  of  the  New  Testament  satisfy  them  ? 


115 


VII 

FAITH   AND   HISTORY 


s  SOON  as  we  approach  more  closely  to  the 
question  of  the  credibiHty  of  the  evangelical 
history  the  very  important  consideration 
arises :  Of  what  use  is  a  belief  in  past  his- 
tory, since,  as  far  as  Christian  efficiency  is  concerned, 
if  it  is  to  have  security  and  authority,  it  depends  on 
present  truth  existing  and  prevailing  from  eternity 
and  for  eternity.  At  the  most  w^e  could  only  have  to 
deal  with  the  after-effeAs  of  a  past  history,  just  as  we 
enjoy  and  seek  to  exhaust  our  entire  civilization  life  as 
an  after-effedl  of  the  vic1:ory  of  the  Greeks  at  Marathon 
and  Salamis  over  Asiatic  tyranny ;  of  the  vidlory  of  the 
Romans  over  the  Carthaginians,  and  by  it  over  Afri- 
can civilization,  or  of  our  [German]  vidlories  over 
the  French.  But  if  we  have  to  deal  only  with  after- 
effe(5ls  it  would  be  still  possible  that  this  Christ-pidlure 
does  not  represent  wholly  the  reahty  of  Christ,  and 
our  task  would  not  be  in  any  case  to  try  to  under- 
stand the  reality  of  Christ.  This  task  would  be  of 
great  historical  interest,  but  for  our  moral-reHgious 
life  we  would  have  the  task  of  ascertaining  and  assent- 
ing to  those  eternal  truths  which  constitute,  or  should 
constitute,  the  possession  of  the  truly  educated.  His- 
torical inquiry  might  perhaps  be  able  to  make  some 
things  clear,  but  we  are  not  dependent  on  our  relation 

116 


FAITH   AND   HISTORY 


to  the  historical  inquiry  and  to  the  evangeUcal  history 
belonging  to  the  past.  The  ever- recurring  question, 
* '  How  much  in  the  evangelical  accounts  is  truth  and 
what  is  fi(ftion?  "  need  not  trouble  us. 

But  if  that  Christ-pi(5lure  obtained  through  the 
work  of  criticism  does  not  satisfy,  is  there  quite  an- 
other conception,  namely,  the  New  Testament  Christ- 
pidlure,  that  will  better  satisfy  our  wants,  because  it 
displays  to  us  historical  phenomena  and  events  whose 
after-effe(5ls  promise  more  and  do  more  for  us  than  the 
former  conception?  For  Christ  is,  as  they  say,  a 
person  of  history  ;  and  persons  of  history,  as  well  as 
events,  only  continue  to  work  by  their  after-efTec5ls 
and  in  them.  This  is,  indeed,  true  for  persons,  and  for 
historical  events  which  are  nothing  else.  lyUther  con- 
tinues to  operate  a(5lively  and  powerfully  through  the 
word  of  faith,  which  he  rediscovered,  experienced,  and 
preached  wdth  original  force.  But  there  is  only  an 
after-effe(5l  of  his  appearance  when  we  believe  as  he 
believed,  when  by  his  word  we  are  awakened  and  edi- 
fied, strengthened  and  comforted,  even  in  our  last  dis- 
tress, and  with  him  can  say: 

And  tho  it  tarry  the  night, 

And  round  again  to  morn, 
My  heart  shall  ne'er  mistrust  Thy  might, 

Nor  count  itself  forlorn. 

But  Christ  is  more  than  a  person  of  history,  and  just 
on  this  very  account  He  alone  satisfies  our  needs.  Let 
us  look  at  the  matter  more  closely ! 

The  path  which  the  disciples  walked  with  Jesus, 
the  history  which  they  experienced  with  Him  and  in 

117 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Him,  were  full  of  mj^steries.  But  when  from  the  end 
they  looked  back,  everything  dark  became  clear.  From 
the  end — but  what  point  was  that  ?  From  His  death  ? 
There,  nothing  was  clear  to  them,  but  everything  was 
dark — not  only  dark,  like  an  unsolved  mystery,  but 
dark  as  the  hell  in  Dante,  whose  gate  bears  the  in- 
scription: ''Abandon  all  hope."  What  Jesus  did  to 
them  at  the  end,  in  the  washing  of  feet  and  the  distri- 
bution of  the  supper,  with  the  words,  ' '  This  is  my 
body,  my  blood,  for  the  remission  of  sins,"  they 
had  indeed  received  reverently,  but  they  understood 
it  not.  The  enemies,  Pharisees,  scribes,  priests — yes, 
the  whole  people,  incited  by  them — ^had  delivered  Him 
to  the  Gentiles  as  one  who  no  more  belonged  to  the 
people  of  God,  and  upon  whom  the  highest  spiritual  tri- 
bunal of  Israel  had  pronounced  the  sentence  of  death. 
But  the  disciples  lost  all  faith  when  they  saw,  as  it  ap- 
peared to  them,  that  Jesus  had  yielded  to  the  superior 
force  and  was  taken  captive.  What  they  ever  had  in 
Him  and  hoped  of  Him  was  now  gone.  He  was  merely 
a  man.  To  be  sure,  they  were  not  wrong  with  their 
belief  and  hope  in  Him.  On  the  contrary,  if  any 
one.  He  alone  was  able  to  save  the  world  from  sin, 
distress,  and  death,  and  they  were  therefore  obliged 
to  follow  Him.  With  their  belief  they  were  still  right 
over  against  their  own  people,  w^ho  had  rejecfted  Him. 
But  one  thing  they  had  not  considered,  which  to-day 
still  constitutes  the  relation  of  the  world  to  Him  :  the 
power  of  sin.  ''Men  loved  the  darkness  rather  than 
the  light, ' '  death  rather  than  life,  destru(5lion  rather 
than  salvation.  Therefore,  they  brought  Him  to  death. 
This  convicflion  of  sz?i  they  had  not  expedled.  Until 
118 


FAITH   AND   HIvSTORY 


the  bailiffs  liad  laid  hands  on  Him,  they  had  hoped  in 
His  vicftory,  in  His  triumph,  altho  He  had  foretold 
them  otherwise.  That  "  these  things  must  need  come 
to  pass,"  "the  Son  of  Man  shall  be  delivered  up  into 
the  hands  of  men  and  suffer  much  and  be  killed," 
they  had  not  comprehended,  and  comprehended  it  not 
even  now.  On  the  contrary,  when  this  end  came  they 
despaired  and  gave  up  their  hope.  No  one  said:  "  He 
is  nevertheless  the  Savior,  the  Messiah  !  "  Still  less: 
"  He  is  even  now,  tho  the  crucified  One,  yea,  because 
He  is  crucified,  the  Messiah,  the  Savior."  Never- 
theless, He  zvas  the  Savior.  If  any  one  could  have 
saved  Israel  and  the  whole  world  it  was  He.  But  the 
world  refused  Him  and  wished  not  to  be  saved  by  Him, 
and  we,  we  could  not  be  saved,  for  not  even  we  re- 
mained faithful  to  Him.  Now  all  is  lost!  The  power 
of  sin  in  the  world,  also  our  sin,  is  too  great,  so  that 
Jesus  even  could  not  help.  Now  we  have  to  expecft 
nothing  else  than  God's  judgment.  He  is  safe  with 
the  Father,  into  w^hose  hands  He  commended  His 
spirit.     We,  however,  are  lost — lost  forever  ! 

This  was  the  impression  which  the  disciples  had  of 
the  sin  of  the  world  and  of  their  own  sin — a  completely 
authorized  impression,  a  sense  of  their  guilt  in  keep- 
ing with  the  full  truth.  And  yet  it  was  also  un- 
authorized. They  should  have  known  that  it  also 
belonged  to  the  Messiah-way,  to  the  Messiah-calling, 
to  the  Messiah-task  of  Jesus  to  suffer  death  from  those 
for  whom  and  to  whom  He  had  come,  and  on  this 
account  they  should  not  have  despaired,  but  should 
have  waited  in  faith  for  that  which  must  come,  even 
tho  they  knew  not  how  it  could  and  must  come.   Jesus 

119 


THE  ESSKNCK  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

had  foretold  them  everything,  but  they  had  compre- 
hended nothing,  wished  not  to  comprehend  it,  and 
beheved  not. 

This  facft,  the  disbehef  of  the  disciples,  is  of  essen- 
tial and  primary  importance  in  the  question  as  to 
the  veracity  or  credibility — not  of  the  truth,  but  of 
the  account.  Without  exception  it  is  confirmed  to 
us  by  all  the  evangelists,  and  it  shows  the  complete 
impossibility  of  such  a  sudden  general  change  of 
feeling  in  the  circle  of  the  disciples,  from  perplex- 
ity, fright,  despair,  into  a  joy  and  blessed  faith  which 
never  again  left  them  unless  a  special  event  had  taken 
place  which  took  away  the  impression  of  Jesus'  death. 
It  is  impossible  that  this  change  should  have  been 
brought  about,  in  the  few  days  which  they  had  at  their 
command,  by  some  spontaneous  resolution  of  the 
disciples  to  plunge,  with  ever  greater  longing  and  more 
grateful  love,  into  the  pidlure  of  that  Man  of  whom 
they  had  expedled  not  only  still  more  but  every- 
thing, nevertheless  of  whom  they  believed  that  they 
could  now  expe(5t  nothing  more,  and  from  whom,  as 
they  had  to  think,  their  guilt  separated  them  forever. 
It  might  be  a  different  matter  if  Jesus'  death  had  not 
taken  place  prematurely,  and  if  it  had  not  been  brought 
about  by  hostile  force;  if  the  disciples  had  been  look- 
ing forward  to  the  gradual  development  and  formation 
in  time  of  the  Messianic  work  of  Jesus,  and  had  now 
been  convinced  that  He  still  lived,  the  in  another 
world,  in  a  higher  existence,  indeed,  and  therefore  also 
lived  more  efficaciously  than  before.  Kven  then  it  was 
inconceivable  how  this  convicftion  could  so  quickly  and 
generally  give  rise  to  the  inner  experience  of  *  *  appear- 

120 


FAITH   AND   HISTORY 


ances,"  not  as  of  One  dead  from  the  other  world,  but 
of  One  risen  from  the  dead.  That  the  appearances 
were  of  a  risen  One  is  warranted  to  us  by  the  testimony 
of  the  apostle  Paul,  which  points  back  to  the  earliest 
time — perhaps  into  the  year  of  Jesus'  death — which 
again  confirms  the  testimonies  of  the  evangelists.  But 
even  supposing  that  the  ' '  appearance ' '  of  the 
heavenly,  spiritual,  glorified  Jesus,  quite  subjecflively 
originated  and  effedled,  had  immediately  been  substi- 
tuted in  place  of  the  appearance  of  the  earthly,  bodily, 
now  supposedly  forever  risen  Jesus,  released  from  His 
hitherto  existing  limitations — the  suddenness  of  this 
change  in  the  disposition  of  the  disciples  remains  never- 
theless inconceivable.  For  again  and  again  we  are  told 
of  the  unbelief  of  the  male  and  female  disciples  of  Jesus, 
whom  Jesus  had  to  reprove  and  admonish  with  the 
greatest  seriousness.  Eight  days  after  the  resurredlion 
we  find  Thomas  not  at  all  inclined  to  be  influenced  by 
his  codisciples,  but  opposing  their  account  with  all 
resistance.  To  him  who  contradic5ls  his  codisciples 
Jesus  appears.  Thomas  must  convince  himself,  and  at 
the  same  time  he  must  hear  the  words:  "  Be  not  faith- 
less but  believing. ' ' 

That  Thomas  would  not  believe  it,  after  all  the 
other  disciples  had  already  seen  the  Lord,  was  not 
because  he  altogether  regarded  a  resurrecftion  as  im- 
possible before  the  last  day.  Only  a  few  days  before 
he  had  himself  witnessed  the  resuscitation  of  L^azarus. 
But  that  Jesus,  whom  one  of  His  disciples  betrayed, 
whom  the  people  rejedled,  whom  Peter  denied,  whom 
all  disciples  deserted,  should  have  risen  again  ;  that 
they,  the  disciples,  who  so  ignominiously  had  deserted 

121 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Him,  should  have  Him  back  again  ;  that  all  their  sin, 
even  their  disbelief  and  the  offense  which  they  had 
taken  at  Him,  should  no  more  be  remembered  ;  that 
all  should  rather  be  forgiven  ;  that  everything  should 
be  well  again,  and  all  hopes  should  now  be  really  ful- 
filled— this  he  could  not  believe.  This  he  now  experi- 
ences through  the  great  mercies  of  Christ,  and  with 
the  other  disciples  he  can  go  now  and  proclaim  to  the 
world,  in  the  name  of  this  Jesus,  the  forgiveness  of  sin 
and  the  everlasting  redemption.  *'To  Him  bear  all 
the  prophets  witness,  that  through  His  name  every  one 
that  believeth  on  Him  shall  receive  remission  of  sins. ' ' 

We  ask  not  for  the  credibility  of  the  accounts.  The 
accounts  can  be  credible — so  far  their  authors  are 
thoroughly  credible  persons  and  credible  reporters — 
and  yet  what  they  have  experienced  they  may  have 
wrongly  understood.  There  were  no  eye-witnesses  of 
the  resurredlion  ;  in  this  all  our  accounts  agree.  Only 
the  empty  sepulchre  is  authenticated  :  by  the  experi- 
ence of  the  women  who  came  on  the  Easter  morning 
to  anoint  the  body  of  Jesus  ;  by  the  experience  of  the 
disciples  who  on  their  part  afterward  went  there  to 
view  the  grave  and  also  did  not  find  Him;  and  by  the 
testimony  to  which  the  bribery  of  the  keepers  and  the 
purchase  of  their  silence  bears  witness  in  behalf  of  it. 
But  does  the  facfl  of  the  resurrecftion  now  follow  from 
this? 

But  we  are  not  inquiring  after  the  credibility  of  this 
fadl  itself  ;  for  would  the  knowledge  of  its  credibility 
convince  us,  anyhow,  that  we  would  be  forced  to  be- 
lieve it  ?  Belief  would,  all  the  same,  still  depend  on  the 
connedlion  in  rational  sequence  between  •  the  resurrec- 

122 


FAITH   AND   HISTORY 


tion  and  the  entire  history  of  Jesus,  so  that  our  rela- 
tion to  the  history  of  Jesus  would  be  at  the  same  time 
our  relation  to  the  fa<5t  of  His  resurrecflion.  But  we 
have  no  more  to  deal  with  the  question  as  to  the  credi- 
bility, but  only  of  the  actuality.  The  credibility  of 
the  fadl  would  at  the  most  demonstrate  the  rationality 
of  its  acknowledgment.  But  of  what  avail  is  to  us 
the  acknowledgment  of  the  fa(5l,  if  it  stands  in  no  con- 
nedlion  with  the  acknowledgment  of  Jesus  Himself, 
and  with  His  history  in  its  eternal  importance  for  us 
and  our  salvation  ? 

Now  it  is  of  the  greatest  significance  that  the  risen 
One  Himself  insists  that  His  disciples  ought  to  have 
been  certain  of  His  resurredlion.  In  consequence  of 
their  communication  w'lXh  Him,  and  of  all  that  they 
have  hitherto  heard  and  learned  of  Him,  and  of 
all  they  had  hoped  through  their  belief  in  Him, 
they  should  not  have  deserted  Him,  they  should  not 
have  despaired,  but  should  have  waited  patiently  and 
undismayed  and  unconfounded  during  the  Sabbath  for 
His  resurre(5lion.  This  they  did  not  do,  and  for  this 
He  reproaches  them.  There  was  no  one  any  more  in 
the  w^orld  who  still  believed  in  Him.  True,  that  they 
still  remembered  Him,  and  recolle(5led  the  hours  when 
His  glory  shone  into  their  hearts  and  transported  them 
with  hope.  They  still  loved  Him,  if  one  ma}^  call  such 
remembering,  especially  such  painful  remembering, 
love,  but — they  loved  Him  without  faith,  they  loved 
Him  as  one  dead,  from  whom  their  sin  separated  them. 
' '  We  hoped  that  it  was  He  who  should  redeem  Israel. ' ' 
Yes,  w^e  hoped  !  This  is  over  now,  through  the  guilt 
of  the  world  and  through  our  guilt.     We  believe  no 

123 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

more  and  we  hope  no  more ;  our  sin  and  the  world's 
sin  is  so  great  that  even  Jesus  could  not  save  us. 
Nothing  is  left  but  God's  judgment ! 

Everything  would  indeed  have  been  and  remained  as 
a  memory  of  the  past,  provided  the  disciples  had  been 
right,  provided  Jesus  had  not  acflually  returned  from 
death,  had  not  risen.  They  were  indeed  right  with 
their  idea  of  a  judgment  on  their  sin  and  the  world's. 
They  knew  themselves  to  be  under  the  weight  of 
their  guilt,  of  their  sinful  personal  life  that  was  so 
completely  estranged  from  the  love  of  God  and  Jesus, 
and  under  this  weight  they  could  not  bend  deep 
enough.  But  now  Jesus  has  returned  from  death,  and 
not  this  alone.  It  might  have  been  indeed  so  as  they 
feared  when  they  received  through  the  angels  the 
first  news  of  Jesus'  resurredlion :  He  might  have 
come  back  to  execute  judgment  over  the  world.  But 
not  for  judgment  had  Jesus  been  sent  by  the  Father 
into  the  world,  not  for  judgment  had  He  now  been 
raised  by  the  Father.  Here  is  the  unity,  the  harmo- 
nious relations  of  the  resurredlion  of  Jesus  with  His 
life  and  work.  This  was  the  great  thing  which  the 
disciples  experienced :  Jesus'  return  to  His  own  who 
had  forsaken  Him,  His  return  into  the  world  which 
had  rejedled  Him.  This  they  had  not  imagined,  and 
yet  they  could  and  should  have  imagined  it  had  they 
considered  all  their  sin,  and  the  great  pardoning  love 
and  patience  and  miracles  of  Jesus  and  the  words  which 
He  had  spoken  with  them  of  His  suffering  and  death. 
It  was  not  necessary  to  commit  the  sin  with  which  they 
crowned  all  sin.  It  was  done,  and  Jesus  had  borne  it 
also.     Now  the  disciples  experienced    how    great   a 

124 


FAITH   AND   HISTORY 


sin  the  love  and  the  love-power  of  the  Father  and  of 
Jesus  covered  ;  now  they  understood  that  they  could 
have  believed  when  they  had  abandoned  belief,  and 
that  they  now,  all  the  same,  can  believe  in  Him  and  be 
forever  right  in  their  belief.  They  understood  that 
they  were  sent  out  into  all  the  world  to  preach  and  to 
bring  to  it  the  forgiveness  of  sins  and  thus  the  ever- 
lasting redemption.  The  whole  greatness  of  the  miracle 
that  had  taken  place  arose  to  them  with  their  insight 
into  their  redemption,  w^hich  fell  to  their  lot  when,  as 
they  believed,  they  had  incurred  everlasting  perdition. 
We  understand  that  they  could  not  abandon  their  faith 
while  they  lived,  and,  as  Paul  writes  in  the  beginning 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  they  preached  the  Gos- 
pel as  the  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God,  "who  was  de- 
clared to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power,  according  to 
the  spirit  of  holiness  b}^  the  resurrecflion  of  the  dead. ' ' 
But  this  is  not  all.  There  is  yet  a  m3^stery  which 
requires  explanation,  and  whose  solution  only  dis- 
closes to  us  the  whole  importance  of  the  resurrec- 
tion. The  disciples  had  sinned  by  their  unbelief  as 
Israel  had  not  sinned.  "  Had  the  rulers  of  this  world 
known  the  hidden  wisdom  of  God  they  would  not 
have  crucified  the  Lord  of  glory,"  says  Paul ;  and 
Peter,  who  in  the  strongest  manner  called  the  Jews 
traitors  and  murderers  of  the  Holy  One  of  God, 
adds  :  ' '  And  now,  brethren,  I  wot  that  in  ignorance  ye 
did  it."  Israel's  sin  was  not  so  great  and  heavy  as 
that  of  the  disciples,  whom  Jesus  had  so  long,  so 
earnestly,  so  lovingly,  so  powerfully  united  to  Himself. 
On  this  account  the  disciples,  to  whom  the  risen  One 
had  brought  forgiveness,  could  preach  this  forgiveness 

125 


THE  KSSKNCK  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

also  to  Israel — 3^es,  to  the  whole  world.  They  did  this, 
and  set  forth  the  forgiveness,  not  as  merely  possible 
but  as  an  adlual  forgiveness,  procured  through  Christ's 
suffering  and  death,  and  accomplished  by  His  resusci- 
tation, now  offered  by  the  w^ord  of  preaching  or  by  the 
Gospel.  It  is  true,  many  refused  and  declined.  They 
have  not  kept  back  the  f a(5l  that  God  raised  Jesus  from 
the  dead  and  gave  Him  to  be  made  manifest  ' '  not  to 
all  the  people  but  unto  witnesses  that  were  chosen  be- 
fore of  God,  even  to  us,  who  did  eat  and  drink  with 
Him  after  He  rose  from  the  dead."  As  we  already 
said,  they  never  proclaimed  that  those  who  might  be- 
come and  intended  to  become  believers  should  also 
see  Him,  as  they,  the  apostles,  had  seen  Him.  Still 
less  did  they  think  it  necessary  thus  to  see  Him,  in 
order  to  see  Him  in  a  spiritual  reality  and  become  a 
believer.  Of  those  who  became  believers,  none  desired 
to  see  the  risen  One  and  to  have  an  experience  like 
Saul  on  the  way  to  Damascus.  To  those  who  believed, 
it  was  certain  that  Jesus  had  risen  from  the  dead, 
and  that  He  did  not  merely  pass  over  into  eternal  life, 
like  those  who  die  happily,  but  that  He  had  returned 
forever  into  our  life,  into  our  communion,  and  now 
belongs  to  us  through  His  resurrecftion  and  for  all 
eternity.  With  them  it  was  a  matter  of  fadl.  They 
did  not  understand  that  we  should  believe  Him  as 
we  believe  concerning  parents,  teachers,  the  prophets, 
the  apostles,  who  had  passed  away  long  ago,  and  whose 
words  only  we  now  have  ;  but  that  we  can  believe  in 
Him,  can  build  our  hope  and  trust  on  Him,  can  speak 
with  Him,  can  pray  to  Him  as  to  a  living  One.  They 
proclaimed  Him  as  the  risen  One,  who  did  not  go  to 
126 


FAITH  AND   HISTORY 


His  place  through  death,  but  who  had  come  back  a 
vic5lor  over  death  and  Hades,  whom  death  could  not 
hold,  and  who  is  now  the  living  One,  the  Prince  of  Life, 
exalted  to  the  right  hand  of  God.  From  thence,  after 
the  Gospel  has  been  preached  in  the  whole  world.  He 
shall  come  again  to  judge  and  to  establish  His  Kingdom. 
To  believe  in  One  who  died  and  who  existed  in  a 
higher  world  was  not  possible  then,  nor  is  it  now.  Of 
the  return  of  such  a  One  from  heaven  no  one  could  by 
any  means  think.  The  belief  in  Jesus  was  belief  in 
Him  who  has  been  dead,  who  had  died  and  had  become 
alive  again ;  to  whom,  being  dead,  now  belonged 
the  past,  according  to  His  word :  '/I  was  dead,  and, 
behold,  I  am  alive  for  evermore,  and  I  have  the  keys 
of  death  and  of  Hades." 

This  was  by  no  means  a  mere  recoUedlion  of  one 
dead.  It  was  not  a  reestablishment  of  belief  in  one 
dead,  whom  they  had  given  up  in  the  first  bewilder- 
ment over  His  death.  It  wsiS  faith  in  a  living  One 
who  died  and  whom  death  had,  nevertheless,  been 
forced  to  give  back.  One  may  believe  those  who  died, 
but  one  can  not  belive  i7i  them.  One  can  not  believe 
171  Abraham,  Isaac,  or  Jacob,  nor  in  David,  Paul,  or 
Luther,  because  they  can  not  help  us ;  they  can  only 
show,  or  tell  us,  how  they  believed,  in  whom  and  what 
they  believed.  But  one  can  believe  in  Jesus.  One, 
indeed,  might  think  he  could  objedl  to  the  fadl  of  the 
resurredlion  of  Jesus  on  the  ground  that  Jesus  had  not 
appeared  again  in  a  mortal  body  and  did  not  continue 
to  live  in  a  mortal  body.  One  might  urge  that  on  this 
account  the  question  can  not  be  of  a  real,  bodily  resur- 
redlion,    but    that    resurrection   is  only   a   figurative 

127 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

expression  for  the  blessed  change  which  took  place 
with  Jesus,  a  change  for  which  another  expression, 
tho,  after  all,  also  figurative,  is  even  better — the  word 
' '  exaltation. ' '  But  Paul  as  little  thought  of  our  future 
resurredlion  as  an  "  exaltation  "  as  he  thought  thus  of 
the  resurrecftion  of  Jesus.  He  regarded  the  body  that 
Jesus  received  as  being  just  as  little  mortal  as  the 
future  body  we  shall  receive  again  in  the  resurrec- 
tion. "  It  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in 
incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  on  immor- 
tality." The  resuscitations  of  the  dead  which  Jesus 
accomplished  were  only  signs  and  testimonies  of  a 
better  resurrecftion,  of  a  future  complete  abolishing  of 
death  through  Him,  and  this  complete  abolishing  of 
death  He  first  experienced  in  Himself.  He  went  forth 
from  the  grave  as  the  vicftor  whom  death  could  not 
hold,  still  less  could  subdue  a  second  time — yet  He  was 
the  same  who  was  put  into  the  grave,  for  He  showed 
to  Thomas  His  wounds  and  the  print  of  the  nails  to 
convince  him  that  it  w^as  Himself.  He  came  to  His 
own  to  convince  them  of  the  truth,  greatness,  and 
completeness  of  His  love,  which  covers  the  whole  great 
multitude  of  the  sins  of  all.  He  again  belonged  to 
them.  But  He  did  not  belong  to  a  world  in  which  the 
same  fight  and  struggle  arises  ever  and  ever  again,  and 
where  ever  anew  is  kindled  the  fires  of  it.  He  has 
fought  out  this  fight,  which  among  us  shall  endure  till 
the  Gospel  is  preached  to  the  last  soul.  Then  only 
will  the  time  come  for  Him  to  appear  again,  to  come 
in  His  entire  glory.  Now  He  still  has  patience,  and, 
therefore,  waits  for  those  who  shall  learn  to  believe. 
Have  we  learned  ?     This  is  now  the  question.     Have 

128 


FAITH   AND    HISTORY 


we  learned  to  believe  as  the  disciples  ought  to  have 
believed,  even  before  Jesus  rose  ?  No  ;  for  our  belief 
is  only  effecfted  through  the  power  of  God,  who  raised 
Jesus  from  the  dead  ;  yes,  for  as  the  disciples  learned 
that  they  could  have  believed,  so  we  learn  that  wq  can 
believe.  We  may  come  to  the  convi(5lion  that  Jesus 
is  risen,  and  risen  for  our  salvation,  and  for  His  justi- 
fication by  the  Father,  through  the  account  in  which 
this  fa(5l  is  communicated,  and  even  more  through 
the  consistency  of  the  entire  testimony  about  Jesus. 
Everything  which  is  said  to  us  about  Him,  of  His 
baptism  and  temptation,  of  His  preaching  and  teach- 
ing and  miracles,  of  His  transfiguration  and  of  His 
suffering  and  death,  all  stands  together  with  His  resur- 
redlion  as  one  unitary  whole,  so  that  we  can  not  do 
otherwise  than  believe  in  this  Jesus  as  One  who  is 
living,  and  who  lives  for  us.  Therefore,  we  believe 
in  Him  as  the  risen  One.  Either  He  is  the  risen  One, 
or  we  get  an  entirely  different  pidlure  of  Him — that 
picfture  whose  entire  insufficiency  we  have  already 
represented  to  ourselves. 

But,  granting  that  the  faith  offered  to  us,  and  worked 
in  us  by  the  Gospel,  is  a  faith  in  the  risen  One,  a  ques- 
tion remains  w^hich,  as  we  said  before,  is  not  yet  set- 
tled. It  is  this :  Why  did  not  the  apostles,  why  has^ 
not  any  one  in  Christendom,  demanded  as  necessary 
to  a  belief  in  Jesus  that  one  must  see  the  risen  One 
as  these  witnesses  did?  W^e  have  already  said  that 
Jesus  is  more,  much  more,  than  a  personage  of  his- 
tory. He  is,  as  it  is  called,  a  superhistorical  phenom- 
enon. He  entered  into  history,  into  our  history,  but 
He  has  not  left  us  again,  and  referred  us  to  His  after- 

129 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

effedls.  He  still  lives,  not  merely  has  lived ;  He  died, 
He  revived  again,  and  ascended  into  heaven  ;  but  He 
lives,  and  wherever  His  Gospel  is  preached  He  is 
adlually  known  and  experienced  as  living — a  fadl 
w^hich,  as  may  be  supposed,  is  only  admitted  by  those 
who  believe,  and  is  naturally  opposed  and  denied  by 
those  who  do  not.  He  is  preached  unto  us  :  all  that 
He  did,  spoke,  suffered  ;  all  that  happened  to  Him. 
All  this  concerns  us ;  it  is  for  us  the  Gospel.  Hear- 
ing it,  we  have,  after  all,  to  deal  with  Himself.  We 
do  not  have  merely  a  lively  realization  of  His  per- 
son and  His  words  which  is  dependent  on  the  art 
of  presentation,  or  the  warmth  or  the  faithfulness 
by  which  the  narrator  succeeds  in  allowing  the  I^ord 
to  speak  for  Himself.  The  art  may  be  insignifi- 
cant, but  the  Lord  speaks  and  treats  with  us  Himself. 
The  art  may  be  great  and  may  attradl  us,  while  Jesus 
still  remains  far  from  us.  It  is  not  that  w^e  transfer 
ourselves  into  the  time  of  His  earthly  life,  but  rather 
that  we  are  transferred,  not  only  into  that  distant 
time,  but  into  adlual  proximity  to  Him — into  His  very 
presence.  That  is  a  wonderful  effedl  which  proceeds 
from  the  preaching  about  Jesus  (not  merely  from  the 
words  of  Jesus),  an  effedl  which  no  other  w^ord  has, 
not  even  that  which  is  said  to  us  of  everlasting,  un- 
changeable truths  and  laws.  Eet  the  w^ords  of  our 
poets  and  thinkers  touch  us  again  and  again  ;  let  them 
open  to  us  depths  of  thought  and  feeling  which  other- 
wise w^e  would  not  guess — yes,  let  them  cause  us  to 
perceive,  in  many  cases,  the  very  great  abyss  of  our 
sinful  corruption — still  is  this  by  no  means  like  the 
words  about  Jesus  that  come  even  from  simple  lips. 
130 


FAITH   AND   HISTORY 


The  former  have  no  vital  power,  no  power  of  eternal 
life.  At  the  most  they  give  us  only  something,  but  not 
everythi7ig.  They  are  perishable  words.  The  Word 
about  Jesus  (not  merely  the  Word  of  Jesus)  is  a  Word 
oi  life;  it  makes  us  not  only  feel  the  breath  of  eternity 
in  the  midst  of  time,  it  transfers  us  into  the  life  of 
eternity.  How  can  that  be  ?  Is  it  because  it  treats  of 
eternal  life,  and  thereby  brings  us  into  touch  with  the 
same  ?  Is  it  because  it  treats  of  wonderful  love,  and 
thereby  works  in  us  a  premonition  of  how  blessed  it 
must  be  thus  to  be  loved?  Even  then,  like  a  word 
about  strange  countries  and  men,  it  would  still  be  only 
a  word  about  that  which,  while  true,  is  not  essential ; 
it  is  not  the  living  Word.  We  well  know  this  differ- 
ence. Many  a  one  preaches  the  truth,  and  honestly 
endeavors  to  preach  Jesus ;  what  he  says  is  corredl. 
But  it  is  not  all.  Somehow  the  main  thing  is  wanting. 
He  preaches  not  Jesus.  But  at  length  he  ßiids  Jesus, 
lays  hold  of  Him,  preaches  Him,  and  then  at  once  an 
effedl  of  His  Word  is  felt.  It  is  not  the  effe(5l  which 
he  desires,  not  everywhere  the  same  blessed  effe(5l,  not 
everywhere  the  effedl  of  a  quick,  sure,  and  complete 
decision  on  the  part  of  the  hearer.  Again,  another 
preaches  Christ  without  himself  having  Christ,  and  the 
Word  works.  It  is  not  the  word  of  the  preacher,  who 
understands  not,  who  comprehends  not  the  effecft  at  all. 
We  ask  :  What  is  the  explanation  of  this  ? 

After  He  w^as  risen  and  the  disciples  had  Him 
again,  everything  which  they  had  preserved  of  Him 
in  their  recolle(5tion  became  different.  Till  then,  indeed, 
it  had  been  to  them,  in  these  last  days  of  his  earthly 
life,  a  treasure  which  they  could  enjoy,  but — without 

131 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

really  having  anything.  That  period  which  they  had 
spent  with  Him  had  been  the  most  beautiful  time  of 
their  life,  in  spite  of  the  earnest  words  which  they 
had  been  obliged  to  hear  so  often.  They  had  seen 
great  things,  heard  great  things,  and  learned  to  hope 
and  to  expedl  still  greater  things.  Then  the  hour 
came  in  which  everything  collapsed  ;  when  they  low- 
ered Jesus  into  the  grave  they  sunk  with  Him  in  the 
grave  all  their  hopes.  They  remembered  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount,  they  recalled  His  words:  *'I  am 
the  light  of  the  world, "  ''  I  am  the  bread  of  hfe, ' ' 
'  *  If  any  man  thirst,  let  him  come  unto  Me  and  drink, ' ' 
"  Him  that  cometh  to  Me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out." 
All  this  was  now  of  no  use,  everything  was  gone. 
But  after  He  was  risen  all  these  words  became  alive 
again,  for  He  Himself  was  living  who  had  spoken 
them  and  about  whom  they  were  spoken.  He  was 
alive,  never  to  die  again;  alive  for  them,  the  disciples, 
to  whom  He  had  returned,  not  to  destroy  them,  but 
to  forgive  and  save  them.  He  was  alive  for  the  whole 
world,  to  which  He  belongs  forever,  and  He  sent 
His  disciples  out  to  preach  to  it  the  Gospel.  Now  they 
knew  only  what  they  had  learned  from  Jesus  Himself. 
His  words  had  again  authority.  He  stood  by  them. 
He  had  said  and  He  said  it  again,  and  it  was  and  is 
of  good  effe6l:  "I  am'' — not  "I  was'' — ''The 
Bread  of  Life,"  ''The  Light  of  the  World,"  "The 
Good  Shepherd."  He  had  said,  and  it  had  au- 
thority again,  and  is  authority  unto  eternity  :  "  Him 
that  cometh  to  Me  I  will  in  no  wise  cast  out, "  "  Come 
unto  Me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I 
will  give  you  rest. ' '     He  said — and  it  was  and  is  eter- 

132 


FAITH   AND   HISTORY 


nal  truth  and  reality — "ho,  1  am  with  you  alway, 
even  unto  the  end  of  the  world,"  "I  a??i  the  vine, 
ye  are  the  branches,"  "Apart  from  Me  ye  can  do 
nothing,  with  Me  everj^tliing,"  "Whatsoever  ye  shall 
ask  in  My  name,  that  will  I  do."  Now  only  the  dis- 
ciples experienced  the  whole  full  power  of  these  words, 
because  He  who  had  spoken  them  7aas  risen.  "Jesus 
Christ,  the  same  yesterday  and  to-day  and  forever, ' ' 
who  keeps  His  word  now  and  in  eternity,  fulfils  His 
promises,  offers  Himself  to  those  who  hear  such  words, 
gives  Himself  to  those  who  believe  such  promises,  treats 
with  those  also  to  whom  the  disciples  bring  His  name. 
This  is  the  power  not  only  of  the  words  of  Jesus,  but 
of  the  words  about  Jesus.  The  risen  One,  over  whom 
death  has  now  no  more  power,  and  for  whom  exists 
no  more  any  bounds  of  space  and  time,  stands  since 
then  by  His  Word,  and  the  Word  about  Him,  and  on 
this  account  it  is  a  living  Word  in  the  proper  and  fullest 
sense  of  the  term.  With  His  presence  He  covers  the 
Word  by  which  His  own  testify  of  Him.  It  is  indeed 
a  wondrous,  a  paradoxical  Word  through  and  through, 
an  incredible  Word,  the  Word  of  our,  the  sinners',  re- 
demption, of  our  pardon,  of  our  eternal  life.  It  is  the 
contrary  of  all  self-demonstrative  truth.  How  is  it 
possible  to  believe  it  ?  It  is  a  Word  that  expresses  no 
truth  which  the  more  serious  and  deeper  mind  of  man 
would  perceive  as  proved  in  the  natural  constitution 
of  things,  but  rather  the  truth  which  stands  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  natural  constitution  of  things,  the  con- 
trary of  all  that  which  logical  and  morally  consistent 
thinking  can  tell  us.  How  shall  it  be  possible  to  know 
and  acknowledge  it  as  truth,  to  believe  it? 

133 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

The  fatal  mistake  which  has  been  committed,  and 
which  Harnack  committed  in  the  extremest  form,  is 
the  supposition  that  by  such  criticism  as  his  the 
tenor  of  the  Gospel  is  purged  of  its  paradoxical 
charadler,  which  obliges  its  followers  to  put  them- 
selves in  opposition  to  all  logical  and  moral  con- 
sistency while  they  yet  retain  the  paradox,  not 
always  perceived  to  be  such,  that  is  found  in  the 
relation  of  freedom  to  the  constraint  of  the  law  of 
nature.  We  have  not,  however,  to  deal  with  this 
paradox  of  the  Divine  freedom,  which  in  all  respecfls 
follows  the  same  line  of  possibility  as  that  by  which 
our  freedom  proves  itself  over  against  the  constitution 
of  nature.  The  paradox  we  have  to  consider  is  that 
of  free  grace  over  against  our  sin  and  sinfulness. 
From  Harnack' s  standpoint  one  must  estimate  sin  as 
an  unavoidable  produdl  of  our  finitude.  Guilt  is  heavy 
only  accordingly  as  the  offense  is  heavy,  and  guilt  and 
the  excuse  for  it  are  again  and  again  placed  together. 
For  the  same  reason,  from  Harnack' s  standpoint,  one 
must  regard  the  doings  of  God  only  as  a  consistent 
consequence  of  the  rightly  perceived  essence  of  God, 
as  the  loving  Father,  the  provider  and  leader  of  His 
creatures.  Jesus,  in  their  view,  is  to  be  regarded  as 
one  who  made  us  free  from  the  error  of  those  concep- 
tions of  God  hitherto  existing,  and  mediated  a  knowl- 
edge of  the  kindness  and  love  of  God  which  we  now 
know  and  believe,  and  upon  which  we  now  live.  As 
Harnack  expresses  it :  "  Only  the  Father,  not  Jesus, 
belongs  in  the  Gospel." 

It  is  true,  indeed,  that  Jesus  does  not  belong  in  that 
to  which  Harnack  has  reduced  the  Gospel.     Yet  that 

134 


FAITH   AND   HISTORY 


word  is  not  quite  correcfl.  Let  us  rather  say,  Jesus 
does  not  belong  in  the  Gospel  that  Harnack  has  con- 
structed, and  in  which  he  has  only  borrowed  words 
from  the  Gospel  about  Christ  and  from  the  Gosjx-l  of 
Christ,  which  have  now,  however,  received  quite 
another  meaning.  The  Gospel  of  the  New  Testament 
is  for  Harnack  a  paradox  which  surpasses  all  his  notions 
of  paradox,  and  on  this  very  account  he  disputes  it. 
He  is  not  concerned  with  the  question  of  redemption 
that  delivers  us  from  death  and  danniation — words 
that  express  in  the  only  consistent  sense  the  facft  of 
our  being  lost  from  sin  and  guilt,  which  from  our 
birth  have  become  part  of  us  or  of  which  we  are  a  part 
— but  he  knows  only  a  redemption  which  abolishes 
the  power  of  error,  and  thereby  the  power  of  sin,  for 
error  is  not  sin,  but  sin  is  rather  error.  Harnack 
needs  in  his  view  only  knowledge,  which  determines 
the  will,  and  suggestion,  which  draws  us  along  into 
the  right  paths.  Thus  he  needs  merely  a  Jesus  who 
not  only  in  life  but  also  in  death  is  and  remains  what 
we  are,  except  that  He  was  not  in  degree  what  we  are, 
but  is  set  before  us  that  we  may  not  remain  as  we  are, 
but  submit  ourselves  to  be  raised  from  error  to  truth 
by  His  knowledge  and  His  religion  and  piety.  For, 
according  to  the  proposition  of  Harnack  and  others, 
nothing  that  ever  appeared  in  history  goes  beyond  the 
measure  of  the  human. 

But  how  may  the  paradox  of  the  New  Testament 
Gospel,  the  Gospel  of  Christ  and  the  Gospel  about 
Christ  not  be  overcome,  for  this  is  impossible,  but  be 
acknowledged  as  truth,  as  .saving  truth,  and  as  eternal 
truth?     Only   by   this:    that   Jesus   Himself   by   His 

135 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

presence  prote(5ls  His  Word.  As  the  living  One,  and 
therefore  as  one  who  is  present,  He  tells  us  the  Word 
of  severity  and  also  the  Word  of  His  wondrous,  incom- 
prehensible love.  When  the  question  is  of  His  love, 
of  the  works  and  the  miracles  and  the  power  of  love, 
and  of  the  mercy  and  patience  which  He  has  shown  to 
sinners,  to  the  paralytic,  the  great  sinner,  the  pub- 
lican, and  even  to  a  Peter,  we  know  by  an  inward  ex- 
perience not  that  this  was  He,  but  that  this  is  He  ! 
When  w^e  hear  of  the  paradox  of  His  incomprehensible 
love  which  will  even  save  the  prodigal  son,  we 
should  be  afraid  of  the  sin  of  saying:  "Jesus  received 
sinners";  we  must  say:  "Jesus  receives  sinners." 
Everything  which  is  recorded  of  Him,  of  His  work 
and  sayings,  of  His  patience  and  suffering,  of  His 
death  and  resurre(5lion,  of  His  entire  history,  is  not 
history  merely,  it  is  an  immanent,  real,  living  presence, 
and  not  merely  a  realization  of  His  past.  He  is  to- 
day what  He  was  then,  the  same  whom  men  not 
only  resisted  then,  but  still  resist,  and  to-day  He  still 
endures  the  resistance,  our  resistance,  and  rewards  it 
with  pardoning  grace.  The  like  of  this  we  do  not  find 
elsewhere  in  the  whole  world,  in  the  entire  conne(5lion 
of  things.  Of  course  we  do  not,  for  there  is  only  one 
Jesus,  who  once  appeared  in  the  ongoing  of  history  to 
take  away  the  sins  of  many,  and  that  w^hich  He  did 
for  us  and  does  on  us  He  and  only  He  does;  and  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at,  therefore,  that  this.  His  work, 
and  with  it  His  existence,  go  beyond  the  measure  of 
the  human  ;  for,  no  one  can  redeem  besides  Him; 
such  redemption  is  far  beyond  all  the  abilities  of  man. 
That  the  fabrication  of  His  history,  as  some  phrase  it, 

136 


FAITH   AND   HISTORY 


and  His  marvelous  Gospel  did  not  originate  from  such 
refle(5lion  over  that  which  is  possible  or  impossible,  but 
that  this  refle(5lion  is  rather  only  an  effe(5l  of  His 
wondrous  redemption,  is  a  statement  needing  no  proof. 
Jesus  is  present  where  His  Word  is  preached,  His 
name  is  acknowledged.  His  love  is  praised.  This  we 
feel,  and  with  it  we  feel  that  He  is  7nore  tha7i  a  person- 
age of  history.  He  is,  indeed,  a  personage  of  history,  of 
our  history.  But  He  is  more  than  this  ;  He  is  S2iper- 
historical.  He  entered  into  history,  and  was  des- 
tined to  be  separated  again  from  the  ordinary  course 
of  humanity  and  its  history.  For  this  He  was  killed, 
suffered  the  death  which  w^as  inflidled  on  Him.  But 
He  endured  it  as  the  One  who  was  to  attain  thereby 
His  objeH.  He  attained  it  by  dying  for  us,  for  our 
benefit  and  not  to  our  injur}^  and  by  rising  agai;:  from 
the  dead  and  by  belonging  to  us  forever — the  helper 
whom  the  two  greatest  world-powers,  sin  and  death,  can 
not  separate  from  us.  He  not  only  became  alive  then, 
but  has  lived  ever  since,  and  everything  that  He  was, 
as  He  lived  before,  lives  again  with  Him.  This  ex- 
plains not  only  the  peculiar  imprCvSsion  which  we  have 
from  the  uniqueness  of  the  Word  about  Him,  but  the 
unique  effedl  which  the  Word  about  Him  still  exer- 
cises. It  brings  the  Gentiles  to  that  point  to  which 
it  brought  the  first  Christians — namely,  of  becoming 
people  ' '  who  call  upon  the  name  of  Jesus, ' '  w^ho  do  and 
speak  the  highest  deeds  and  words  which  a  man  can 
possibly  do  and  speak,  and  wherein  the  whole  being, 
soul,  and  heart  express  themselves.  Or  was  this  pray- 
ing, this  calling  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  only 
superstition,  the  aberration,  excusable  or  inexcusable,  of 

137 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

those  who  believed  in  Jesus  aud  thought  that  faith  in 
Jesus  and  prayer  to  Jesus  belonged  together  ?  Whoever 
dislikes  the  designation  of  Jesus  as  of  the  * '  superhistor- 
ical ' '  can  give  it  up  as  soon  as  he  has  found  a  better 
one  ;  but  Jesus  differs  from  all  persons  of  history 
in  that  He  is  not  a  man  who  merely  once  existed,  but 
is  living,  who  to-day  still  lives  and  acfls  ;  this  fa(5l  re- 
mains, and  in  this  consists  the  mystery  of  the  effi- 
ciency of  the  Gospel.  To  be  sure,  just  this  is  denied 
by  those  who  make  Jesus  only  a  man  of  history  who, 
as  they  admit,  certainly  has  done  more  and  is  of  more 
importance  to-day  to  humanity  than  any  of  those  to 
whom  humanity  owes  its  best.  But  that  His  super- 
historical  nature  is  denied  is,  in  accordance  with  what 
we  have  said  before,  not  only  comprehensible,  but  to 
be  expedled.  Nor  is  it  strange  that  the  contest  is 
made  not  only  with  vehemence  and  haughty  presump- 
tion, as  by  Hackel,  but  with  an  array  of  scientific 
skill,  and  with  the  whole  weight  of  the  appeal  to  the 
law^s  of  the  firmly  established  constitution  of  nature 
and  history  in  which  we  live.  It  is  conceded  that  this 
world-order  does  not  rule  out,  as  by  brute  force,  every- 
thing which  goes  beyond  physical  necessity,  but  it  is 
not  conceded  that  a  man  like  ourselves  can  influence 
this  fixed  order  by  his  freedom,  nor  that  God  can  work 
differently  than  by  a  wise  governing  of  this  constitu- 
tion of  things  to  prove  His  providence.  Over  against 
this  we  can  again  and  again  only  refer  to  the  great 
problem  :  "  Oh,  wretched  man  that  I  am  !  who  shall 
deliver  me  out  of  the  body  of  this  death  ?  ' '  which  is 
not  solved  by  thesupposedparadoxof  our  freedom,  but 
only  by  the  great  paradox  of  Divine  freedom,  the  free- 
138 


FAITH   AND   HISTORY 


dorn  of  His  grace  and  mercy,  which  made  Jesus  die  for 
our  sin,  and  raised  Him  for  our  justification.  Who- 
ever will  be  done  with  sin  and  guilt  by  the  w^ay  of  in- 
telle(5l,  let  him  try  it.  If  he  tries  it  honestly  and 
seriously,  he  must  and  will  arrive  at  this  paradox,  which 
at  last  can  only  be  believed. 

This  is  the  conne(ftion  between  history  and  faith. 
We  also  believe  in  everlasting  truths,  in  the  existence 
of  God,  in  a  moral  order  of  the  world,  in  the  invio- 
lability of  the  moral  law,  and  can  retain  these  truths 
in  no  other  way  than  by  a  voluntary  acceptance — i.e., 
in  faith.  In  all  our  life  we  are  restri(5led  to  faith  ;  as 
some  one  has  said  :  "  By  faith  only  has  man  a  father 
and  mother  ;  by  faith  only  has  he  a  friend."  For  just 
this  best  thing  in  life,  the  love  of  others,  demands  our 
faith.  Whoever  wall  not  believe  can  misinterpret 
everything.  But  this  kind  of  belief  and  our  Christian 
belief  differ,  nevertheless,  very  essentially.  With  this 
ordinary  belief  I  believe  only  what  is  rational — what  I 
perceive  as  truth  with  my  reason,  tho  it  is  not  always 
necessary  that  the  obje(5l  of  faith  should  really  exist. 
I  or  any  other  can  withdraw  from  the  acknowledg- 
ment at  his  own  risk.  He  need  neither  believe  in  the 
existence  of  God  nor  in  the  validity  of  any  moral  law; 
he  can  refuse  for  himself  the  demand  upon  love, 
whose  existence  he  does  not  acknowledge  in  others. 
Only  in  such  a  belief,  voluntarily  adopted,  am  I  sure 
of  the  eternal  law  wdiich  concerns  us  all,  of  everlasting 
judgment,  of  my  inviolable  duty,  and  of  my  being  lost 
forever.  For  this  alone  is  rational,  nothing  contra- 
di(5ls  it,  and  it  finds  nothing  itself  which  it  contradicfts 
than  the  want  of  willingness  on  our  part  to  entertain  it. 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

But  what  Christianity  demands  of  us  and  offers  us  is, 
that  we  connedl  with  this  faith,  at  the  same  time,  the 
faith  in  its  contrary  :  with  the  behef  in  our  sin,  our 
guilt,  and  our  judicial  imprisonment,  the  belief  in  our 
pardon  and  our  redemption ;  with  the  belief  in  God's 
eternal  order  of  justice,  the  belief  in  His  equally  eter- 
nal love.  This  is  not  the  demand  that  we  now  seek 
an  adjustment  between  these  apparently  contrary  fadls, 
nor  that  we  must  know  how  both  are  authorized  and 
can  exist  side  by  side  with  each  other,  nor  that  we 
should  understand  that  that  only  is  the  right  and  deep- 
est thinking  and  the  only  corre(5t  knowledge  w^hich 
has  apprehended  the  necessary  unity  of  both.  Here 
no  necessary  unity  obtains  at  all.  No  premise,  no 
antecedent  requires  it.  God  is  free,  absolutely  free. 
He  condemns,  and  therein  a(5ls  justly.  He  pardons 
and  justifies  the  impious,  and  no  one  can  say  that  He 
a(5ls  unjustly. 

The  difference  between  that  faith  which  Christianity 
presupposes  (tho  it  often  becomes  vital  only  wehere 
Christianity  has  already  acquired  a  footing)  and  the 
faith  which  Christianity  offers  to  us  is  this  :  In  Chris- 
tianity we  have  to  deal  with  an  historical  attitude  of 
God.  We  not  only  believe  that  we  are  sinners  and 
that  we  are  lost,  as  Christianity  presupposes,  but  we 
are  also  to  believe  that  God  loved  and  loves  us,  and 
did  and  does  everything  that  we  might  not  perish. 
We  are  to  believe  in  a  God  who  historically  adled  for 
us  and  adls  w^ith  us,  after  we  have  historically  departed 
from  His  ways,  from  the  everlasting  right  and  law,  and 
have  put  ourselves  in  opposition  to  Him.  Our  histor- 
ical condudl  is  the  presupposed  occasion  for  the  his- 

140 


FAITH   AND   HISTORY 


torical  conduc5l  of  God,  which  .stands  before  our  eyes 
in  Christ,  which  became  reaHty  in  Christ  and  since 
then  is  and  has  superhistorical  reahty.  True,  God's 
thoughts  are  everlasting  thoughts ;  they  are  from 
eternity  for  eternity.  But  His  thoughts  toward  our 
redemption  have  their  presupposed  occasion — our  con- 
du(5l,  our  sin — and  God's  condu(5l  in  the  sending  of 
His  Son  is  not  to  serve  for  the  furtherance  and  the 
securing  of  our  development,  but  is  to  redeem  us  from 
our  false  development,  our  sin  and  guilt,  and  counter- 
acft  its  consequences.  Besides,  we  can  believe  in  the 
historical  condudl  of  God  only  when  it  has  entered  into 
history,  and  then  has  become  for  us  as  present  con- 
du(5l.  The  significant  f a(5l  is  that  we  are  released  from 
the  ban  under  which  eternal  law  and  right  and  truth 
have  placed  us  on  account  of  our  historical  conducfl. 
We  can  not  lift  this  weight  merely  by  the  knowledge 
that  the  eternal  love  of  God  is  still  higher  and  that 
this  is  equally  eternal  truth.  By  that  supposition  the 
whole  seriousness  and  the  entire  truth  and  power  of 
our  knowledge  of  sin  would  be  abolished.  It  is  a  fadl 
that  in  the  same  degree  in  which  my  sin  loses  its  mean- 
ing for  me,  in  the  same  measure  or  in  a  still  higher 
measure  also  vanishes  my  interest  in  the  grace  of  God, 
and  so  in  the  condudl  of  God,  and  with  it  my  interest 
in  faith.  Only  the  interest  of  opposition  to  the  Gospel, 
then,  keeps  the  discussion  alive,  and  preserves  an  ap- 
pearance of  interest  in  the  matter.  Only  that  Gospel 
exercises  real  power  which  makes  known  to  us  a  condudl 
of  God,  which  in  absolute  freedom  had  mercy  upon  us, 
which  entered  into  our  history,  interfered  with  it,  and 
has  now  become  a  lasting  presence.     Upon  this  view 

141 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

nothing  is  denied  which  should  be  affirmed.  The  in- 
violableness  of  the  eternal  truth  and  the  law  of  God, 
the  whole  greatness  of  our  sin  and  guilt,  the  fadl  of 
our  being  lost — everything  is  acknowledged  unreserv- 
edly ;  so  acknowledged  that  our  sin  appears  ever 
clearer,  ever  greater,  ever  heavier  :  * '  That  thou  never 
open  thy  mouth  any  more  because  of  thy  shame,  when 
I  have  forgiven  thee  all  "  (Ezekiel  xvi :  63).  At  the 
same  time,  our  faith  becomes  ever  more  grateful  and 
fervent,  more  inward,  quiet,  and  deep. 

This  is,  in  reality,  the  harmony  between  faith  and 
history.  We  can  not  be  quite  deprived  of  history,  be- 
cause we  need  historical  and,  at  the  same  time,  lasting 
reality.  The  redemption  being  at  hand  and  offered  to 
us,  we  see  and  know  its  nature,  and  can  understand 
that  this  is  the  only  w^ay  by  which  we  could  or  can  be 
helped.  And  this  Divine  grace,  which  is  at  the  same 
time  history  and  eternity,  stands  before  us  in  the  resur- 
rection of  Jesus.  By  that  everything  that  concerns 
Him — His  humility  for  our  sake — became  a  present, 
enduring  reality.  He  could  not  by  force  lay  claim  to 
acknowledgment  without  destroying  ns  and  the  whole 
world.  His  patience,  with  which  He  endured  the  hard- 
ness of  the  human  heart,  and  again  and  again  showed  to 
them  nothing  but  love,  tho  he  had  to  chide  them  and 
did  chide  them  ;  His  innocent  and  patient  suffering 
and  death,  tho  He  had  the  power  to  defend  Himself  by 
one  word  against  the  whole  world  and  to  destroy  it — all 
this  is  now  enduring,  present  reality  in  Him  who  offers 
Himself  to  us  as  the  One  who  was  crucified  and 
rose  again.  Every  word  still  has  authority,  and  is 
to-day  His  word  to  our  hearts.     This  is  not  because 

142 


FAITH   AND   HISTORY 


He  was  dead  and  remained  in  death,  it  is  not  because 
He  was  dead  and  was  transferred  to  a  higher  existence, 
like  those  who  are  saved  but  can  no  more  speak 
to  us,  and  whose  words  are  now  only  of  importance 
for  us  so  far  as  they  point  us  to  another  One  who 
is  able  to  help  us.  His  words  have  authority  because 
He  was  dead  aiid  became  alive,  and  now  has  the  keys 
of  hell  and  death.  Because  He  gave  Himself  to  us 
He  still  gives  Himself  to  us,  and  gives  Himself  to 
every  one  to  whom  His  word  comes.  In  having  Him 
I  have  my  redemption,  because  I  have  the  Redeemer. 
Since  I  have  and  hold  Him,  my  life  is  a  life  through 
Him,  a  life  in  Him,  a  work  in  cooperation  with  Him. 
Living  or  dying  we  are  His,  the  living  Savior's  own. 
We  know,  then,  and  can  say  :  '  *  He  died  for  me  and 
lives  for  me."  **The  old  man,"  as  Paul  says,  **is 
crucified  with  Him,"  and  my  life  has  become  new. 
"  I  live,  and  yet  no  longer  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in  me  ; 
and  that  life  w^hich  I  now  live  in  the  flesh  I  live  in 
faith,  the  faith  which  is  in  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved 
me,  and  gave  Himself  up  for  me."  **In  Christ  we 
have,  I  have,  the  redemption  through  His  blood,  the 
forgiveness  of  sins."  John,  however,  writes  :  ''That 
which  we  have  seen  and  heard  declare  we  unto 
you  also,  that  ye  also  may  have  fellowship  with  us : 
3'ea,  and  our fellozv ship  is  ivith  the  Father  aud  zvith  His 
Son  Jesus  Christ. ' '  And  so  we  must  say  that  our  Lord 
Christ  is  not  a  man  who  once  existed,  but  who  is  pres- 
ent ;  not  one  who  died  happily,  but  the  author  of  our 
salvation,  and  all  this  because  He  rose  from  the  dead. 
Thus,  all  depends  on  the  fa (51  of  His  resurre(5lion. 
If  He  is  not  risen  not  even  Harnack  is  right,  but  then 

143 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

everything  is  lost,  and  all  efforts  and  all  hopes  are 
dreams — nothing  but  dreams.  That  He  is  risen  is  not 
made  certain  to  us  by  any  account,  tho  it  were  ever 
so  carefully  received  and  preserved.  But  as  the  dis- 
ciples had  no  need  to  experience  the  resurredlion  first, 
or,  rather,  to  see  the  risen  One,  so  we,  too,  ought  to  be 
certain  of  the  resurrection  by  that  which  we  experience 
of  Him,  by  His  life,  which  we  perceive.  We  are  not 
to  believe  in  Jesus  on  account  of  His  resurrecftion,  but 
we  believe  His  resurre<flion  because  we  believe  in 
Jesus  ;  and  we  believe  in  Jesus  because  we  experience 
Him  in  His  word  and  in  the  Word  about  Him.  We 
experience  that  He  speaks  to  our  troubled  soul  : 
"  Be  of  good  cheer,  I  have  bought  thee  with  a  price  ! ' ' 
We  experience  that  He  is  the  only  One — He  in  whom 
we  can  trust  for  time  and  eternity.  Let  one  call  this 
mysticism,  nevertheless  the  experience  exists.  We  ex- 
perience His  word  :  '  *  Blessed  are  they  that  have  not 
seen  and  yet  have  believed  ;  and  we  learn  to  lay  hold 
of  Him  whom  we  see  not  as  if  we  saw  Him. ' '  I^ooking 
backward  from  His  resurre(5lion,  as  did  the  disciples, 
we  obtain  the  understanding  of  all  mysteries  of  His 
person  and  history.  It  is  with  this  understanding 
that  His  person  and  history  ought  to  be  exhibited  in 
place  of  the  many  so-called  historical  ' '  Lives  of  Jesus  ' ' 
which  have  appeared  since  1835. 

To  be  sure,  the  one  thing  that  it  is  necessary  for  us 
to  know  and  understand  is  that  Jesus  will  save  sin- 
ners. Our  faith  is  morally  coyiditioned.  He  who 
denies  the  knowledge  and  acknowledgment  of  His  sin 
as  Jesus  demands  and  effedls  it — and  one  can  deny  it 
— will  never  come  to  a  belief  in  the  risen  One.     First 

144 


FAITH   AND    HISTORY 


of  all,  there  can  be  and  there  are  other  reasons  which 
render  this  belief  difficult.  For  it  must,  indeed,  be 
acknowledged  by  us  that  this  faith  stands  in  keen 
opposition  to  all  which  is  otherwise  possible  in  the 
orderly  ongoing  of  history,  that  the  proposition  of  the 
resurrecflion  of  Jesus  is  the  most  incredible  thing 
imaginable,  or  at  all  events  a  proposition  than  which 
there  can  be  only  one  that  is  a  more  incredible  fa(5t — the 
fa (51  of  our  redemption.  But  all  these  reasons  against  it 
finally  recede  before  one  final  consideration — namely, 
our  sin  and  its  consequences,  our  guilt,  death,  and  per- 
dition. It  must  be  determined  by  us  whether  we  will 
know  and  acknowledge  the  living  and  consequently 
the  risen  Christ  or  not.  In  the  first  place,  it  is  our 
intelledl  which  renders  the  believing  more  difficult  to 
us;  finally,  however,  the  decision  is  determined  by  our 
will.  It  is  not  as  if  our  will  conditioned  and  effe(5led 
our  faith ;  our  volition  effecfts  the  disbelief,  whereas 
Jesus  by  His  presence  effects  the  faith.  One  can  de 
unbelieving,  and  blameless,  tho  unhappy,  like  Thomas, 
but  one  can  remain  unbelieving  only  with  a  bad  con- 
science. 


145 


B 


VIII 

THE  PERSON  OF  CHRIST 

TT  now  hatb.  Christ  been  raised  from  the  dead, 
the  first-fruits  of  them  that  are  asleep,  as 
we  also  shall  some  day  rise.  But  He  is  not 
merely  the  first  by  the  resurredlion  of  the 
dead,  as  Paul  expresses  himself  at  another  time,  but 
He  is  "  The  Author  of  our  Redemption, "  "  The  Prince 
of  Life, "  ' '  The  Author  of  our  Salvation. ' '  For  it  was 
the  Savior  chosen  and  given  by  God  who  had  been 
crucified,  the  Messiah.  That  He  really  was  and  is 
the  Messiah  became  manifest  to  the  disciples,  and  He 
became  a  power  for  them  through  His  resurre(5lion, 
and  that  power  is  now  to  be  manifested  to  the  whole 
world  through  the  risen  One,  who  confirms  the  words 
of  His  disciples  by  His  presence  in  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  The  resurredlion  is  the  Divine  justifica- 
tion of  Jesus,  the  installation  hitherto  opposed  into  the 
rank  of  His  Messiahship,  into  His  position  of  author- 
ity. As  Peter  says  :  ' '  Let  all  the  house  of  Israel  there- 
fore know  assuredly  that  God  hath  made  Him  both 
Lord  and  Christ,  this  Jesus  whom  ye  crucified" 
(Adls  ii :  36).  The  Lord  is  Christ,  because  He  has  to 
speak  and  command  as  Messianic  King,  into  whose 
hand  the  Father  hath  given  all  things,  to  whom  all 
power  is  given  in  heaven  and  on  earth.  He  is  the 
Lord,  not  because  by  His  influence  He  unites  us  to 
Himself,  and  thus  is  the  first-fruits  and  the  center  of 

146 


THE  PERSON   OF   CHRIST 


all  believers,  not  because  He  held  His  place  and  re- 
mained Lord  of  the  world,  when  it  sought  to  overcome 
Him  in  His  inward  life  by  the  suffering  which  it 
caused  to  Him.  He  is  not  the  Lord,  as  we  shall  be- 
come and  remain  lords  over  the  world  to  triumph  over 
it,  instead  of  allowing  it  to  triumph  over  us  with  its 
power.  Tho  David's  son.  He  is  yet  David's  Lord — 
Lord  over  the  King  of  Israel ;  His  throne  stands  above 
the  throne  of  that  King.  He  is  Lord  as  having  a 
unique  Messianic  and,  therefore.  Divine  superiority. 
He  determines  all  things,  and,  therefore,  our  eternal 
destin}^  as  He  assured  Himself  to  be  able  to  do  in  the 
closing  passages  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount.  In 
short.  He  is  the  Lord,  to  whom  we  pray,  as  is  indi- 
cated in  the  oldest  name  of  the  Christians,  '  *  who  call 
upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 

But  if  He  is  this  and  is  experienced  by  us  as  One 
present  with  us  who  still  is  what  He  was,  then  He  is 
not  merely  our  brother.  He  is  something  that  none 
of  our  brothers  is  or  can  be,  and  something  which  no 
man  can  be — at  the  same  time  our  God  and  Lord. 
We  have  the  most  pressing  interest  in  the  facfl  that  He 
is  what  we  are,  wholly  man,  man  like  us,  born  to  die, 
but  the  interest  which  is  far  greater  than  any  interest 
which  we  can  take  in  a  ma7t  depends  on  this  :  that  this 
man,  this  Jesus,  is  also  our  God  and  Lord.  God  and 
Lord  He  is,  and  yet  our  brother,  wholly  our  brother, 
wholly  ours.  This  is  the  great  God  and  Lord,  and  yet 
our  flesh  and  blood,  and  through  flesh  and  blood  mem- 
ber of  our  race.  Could  we  say  this  of  Him  if  He  only 
were  man,  as  we  are  ?  Were  it  not  blasphemy  to  call 
a  man  God,  as  the  heathenish  Romans  called   their 

147 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

emperors,  3'es,  even  their  teachers,  their  philosophers, 
* '  Dc2is  ac  Dommus  iioster ' '  f  This  no  Jew  and  no  Chris- 
tian— at  the  least,  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  like  Paul  and 
John — could  ever  bring  to  their  lips.  Jesus,  however, 
stands  before  us  wholly  as  our  equal,  and  yet  more 
than  our  equal,  who,  however,  will  be  no  more  than 
we,  but  will  forever  belong  to  us,  to  share  with  us 
everything  that  He  is  and  has.  All  His  goods,  His 
whole  being,  is  to  be  ours. 

That  such  is  the  case  follows  from  the  already  con- 
sidered fadl  that  He  enters  into  our  life  not  as  the 
departed  but  as  the  living — speaks  with  us,  deals  with 
us,  produces  faith  in  us.  It  is  He  who  offers  Himself 
to  us  that  we  should  have  in  Him  redemption,  the 
forgiveness  of  our  sins.  He  gives  Himself  to  us, 
God  gives  Him  to  us,  that  He,  and  through  and  with 
Him,  God's  full  grace  and  God's  whole  kingdom 
may  belong  to  us.  This  we  may  indeed  deny,  but 
only  as  we  can  deny  all  moral  powers  interfering  with 
our  life.  As  real  as  our  sins,  which  are  indeed  no 
mere  fancy;  as  real  as  our  sense  of  guilt,  which  is  just 
as  httle  fancy;  as  real  as  death  and  judgment,  these 
startling  realities  that  are  already  felt  by  us  before- 
hand, because  they  are  already  present  reality — so  real 
is  the  forgiveness  of  sins  through  Christ.  In  no  other 
man  do  we  have  this;  in  Jesus,  and,  indeed,  in  Jesus 
who  died  and  rose  again,  we  have  it  because  He  is 
man  and  therefore  our  brother.  The  child  in  the 
manger  at  Bethlehem,  the  man  on  the  cross  on  Cal- 
vary, both  are  ours,  not  merely  zuere  ours.  They  are 
ours  because  He  rose,  and  in  consequence  of  that 
there  is  forgiveness  of  sins  in  Him  and  the  full  grace 

148 


THE  PERSON   OF  CHRIvST 


of  God  is  ours.  But  this  He  is,  therefore,  and  this 
we  have,  therefore,  in  Him,  because  it  is  our  God  and 
our  Lord  who  became  our  brother,  wholly  our  brother. 
Thus,  none  other  belongs  to  us  as  He  belongs  to  us, 
who  has  so  condescended  to  us.  From  the  manger 
He  is  everything  that  He  is  for  us.  He  does  not  be- 
come the  Savior,  He  is  a  Savior  from  the  beginning, 
and  what  happens  to  Him  and  what  He  experiences 
and  suffers  is  not  that  He  may  become  the  Savior,  bid 
because  He  is  the  Savior. 

That  we  pray  to  One  who  was,  is,  and  shall  be  God, 
and  therefore  never  ceased  and  shall  never  cease  to  be 
God,  and  yet  who  humbled  Himself  to  be  like  us,  who 
became  man  in  order  to  suffer  because  of  us,  His 
brethren,  and  at  the  same  time  to  suffer  for  us,  j^es,  to 
suffer  unto  death,  became  man  because  He  was  not  to 
judge  but  to  save — all  this  is  called  mythology  by 
some.  But  no  matter  who  may  call  it  mythology,  it  is 
not  mythology.  It  is  rather  the  absolutely  free  acftion 
of  the  ever-living  God,  who  will  live  with  us  and  for 
us,  will  share  with  us  His  w^hole  being,  will  exist  for 
us  in  free,  unconstrained  love.  Being  free.  He  does 
not  2iSi  merely  as  some  laws  of  the  orderly  sequence  of 
nature  and  history  a(5l,  or  as  the  difference  between 
God  and  His  creatures  conditions  the  latter's  acflions. 
He  acfts  in  response  to  the  need  of  us  whom  He  has 
united  not  only  to  nature  and  history,  but,  in  a 
region  transcending  these,  to  Himself.  And  thus 
He  a(5ls  as  He  will,  not  only  without  ever  ceasing 
to  be  God,  but  in  a  way  to  prove  by  His  absolute 
freedom  His  Deity.  This,  His  very  freedom  and  power, 
He  proves  when  He  becomes  man,  and  yet  as  man  be- 

149 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

comes  our  God  and  our  Lord.  We  are  esteemed  of 
Him  so  highly,  so  near  are  we  to  Him,  the  nearest  to 
His  throne  in  the  rank  of  His  creation,  that  God  can 
unite  with  us  wholly  and  forever,  even  tho  we  have 
not  remained  in  fellowship  with  Him  and  have  not 
walked  the  path  of  communion  with  Him.  He  be- 
comes man  not  to  exhibit  His  power,  as  in  the  legend 
the  gods  become  men — i.e.^  assume  only  the  form  of 
men  to  display  their  power.  Nor  does  He  become 
man  to  exercise  as  a  warrior  god  His  a6ls  of  power, 
as  the  heroes  of  pagan  legend.  Still  less  does  the  man 
Jesus  become  a  god  or  a  demigod,  like  Hercules  and 
Theseus.  He  becomes  man  to  be  wholly  man,  power- 
less, weak,  and  poor,  to  suffer  and  to  die,  and  thus  to 
belong  to  us  in  our  sins,  that  He  may  deliver  and 
redeem  us. 

The  wondrous  counter-effecfl  of  God  against  our  sin 
is  indeed  a  miracle,  the  absolutely  inconceivable  con- 
trary of  that  which  elsewhere  or  otherwise  takes  place 
or  can  take  place.  It  is  a  miracle  that  He  became 
man — became  man  forever,  not  merely  assumed  human 
form  for  a  time.  It  is  a  miracle  that  He  died  and  rose, 
which  is  not  to  be  explained  from  certain  presuppositions 
lying  in  the  established  order  of  nature  and  history,  or 
following  from  the  orderly  unity  of  rational  thinking. 
It  is  all  grace,  nothing  but  grace,  the  freedom  of 
the  Divine  love,  which  could  thus  accomplish  the 
greatest  miracle  of  all — our  redemption  and  salvation. 
To  understand  this  one  must  only  clearly  admit  that 
our  being  lost  is  a  fadl,  and  eternal  Divine  justice  a 
necessity  to  which  we  have  to  yield,  hard  as  it  may  be 
for  us.     Only  grace  can  save  us,  but  it  must  be  in  such 

150 


THE   PERSON  OF  CHRIST 


wise  that  truth  is  justified  and  siii  is  called  and  re- 
mains sin.  And  this  takes  place  in  Jesusand  through 
Jesus.  God  becomes  our  brother,  and  bears  and  suffers 
our  sins.  Doing  this,  He  effe(5ls  our  pardon.  This  it 
is  which  unites  us  to  Him  in  indissoluble  bonds,  as  we 
now  only  fully  acknowledge  our  sin  and  condemn  our- 
selves when  we  see  our  sin  before  us  in  the  light  of 
His  suffering  and  death.  Whoever  has  perceived, 
believed,  experienced  the  inconceivable  miracle,  and 
the  fadl  of  our  redemption  and  salvation,  has  expe- 
rienced Jesus,  and  lives  in  the  realization  that  He 
is  ours  and  belongs  to  us  as  no  one  else  can  be- 
long to  us  ;  to  him  the  miracle  of  His  resurredlion, 
and  consequently  also  the  w^onder  of  His  incarnation, 
is  not  too  great.  "Unto  us,"  yes,  "unto  us  a  child 
is  born,  unto  us  a  Son  is  given,  and  his  name  shall 
be  called  Wonderful,  Counsellor,  Mighty  God,  Ever- 
lasting Father,  Prince  of  Peace  ! ' '  We  could  not  be- 
lieve the  fadl  of  our  redemption  if  we  did  not  experience 
Him,  the  Redeemer,  as  He  stands  before  us  and  says  : 
'  *  I  am  yours  !  I  have  redeemed  thee  ! ' '  And  we  should 
not  experience  Him  had  He  not  risen  ;  and  He  could 
not  have  risen  were  He  not  the  Messiah,  chosen  of 
God  ;  and  He  were  not  the  Messiah  were  He  not  our 
brother  and  yet  our  God  and  Lord  ;  and  He  were  not 
this  had  He  not  condescended  to  us,  did  we  not  have 
in  Him  and  of  Him  everlasting  grace. 

This  is  the  real  order  of  nature  and  history.  That 
Christ  becomes  in  this  order  of  grace  an  ' '  irregular 
phenomenon  in  history  ' '  troubles  us  the  less  because 
w^e  are  ruined  by  the  regularity  of  phenomena  and 
by  the   law  of   development.     Because  Christ  is  our 

151 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

brother,  and  on  the  ground  that  He  is  an  *  *  irregular '  * 
appearance  in  history,  only  on  this  account,  and  pre- 
cisely on  that  account,  we  have  in  Him  our  redemp- 
tion and  can  believe  in  Him.  Eveit  our  si?i  is  an 
' '  irreg2dar phenome7ion  hi  history^ ' '  however  regularly 
it  now  occurs.  For  it  has  interrupted  the  harmonious 
order  of  the  work  of  God,  and  still  interrupts  it.  It  is 
the  great  perturbation  on  whose  account  the  regular 
course  of  nature  and  history  is  our  irresistible  destruc- 
tion. For  this  phenomenon,  the  world,  with  its  har- 
monious constitution,  is  not  intended,  in  order  that 
all  should  perish.  But  sin  destroys  everything,  and 
were  it  not  for  the  forbearance  of  God  the  world  would 
already  be  destroyed  from  the  beginning,  and  every- 
thing would  be  lost  past  recovery.  In  the  law  of 
development,  the  law  of  our  existence  (not  by  that 
self-dire(?tion,  according  to  which  we  should  govern 
ourselves,  but  in  the  law  which  rules  over  us),  we  had 
nothing  but  the  document  and  seal  of  our  destru(5lion. 
God,  however,  with  the  word  of  His  power,  and  ac- 
cording to  the  decree  of  His  love,  has  preserved  the 
world,  while  He  allowed  sin  to  become  powerful  and 
ever  more  powerful  that  He  might  save  it  through 
Jesus.  ' '  He  hath  shut  up  all  unto  disobedience  that 
He  might  have  mercy  upon  all ' ' — this  is  a  word  which 
must  be  understood  that  one  may  not  make  a  mere 
phantom  out  of  sin  and  guilt,  but  may  understand  that 
only  through  the  incarnation  of  God  a  redeemer  could 
come. 

But  now  arises  a  whole  series  of  questions — among 
them  some  of  such  a  nature  that  we  can  not  answer 
them,  as,  for  instance,  How  is  it  possible  that  one  can 

152 


THE  PKRSON   OF  CHRIST 


be  God  and  j'et  other  than  God,  and  still  the  unity  of 
God  remain?  etc. — questions  that  can  not  be  answered 
by  reference  to  the  union  of  the  will  of  Jesus  with  that 
of  the  Father.  But  is  the  acknowledgment  of  a  facfl 
dependent  on  the  answering  of  all  the  questions  which 
are  connedled  with  it  ?  Is  the  acknowledgment  of  the 
facft  of  our  sin  dependent  on  the  answer  which  we  are 
to  give  to  the  question  how  Satan,  to  whom  our  sin  is 
referred,  became  sinful  ?  Is  the  acknowledgment  of  the 
facft  of  creation  dependent  on  the  question  how  space 
and  time  detach  themselves  from  the  omnipresence  and 
eternity  of  God  ?  In  all  such  questions  we  pass  judg- 
ment upon  the  fa(5l  whose  actuality  we  acknowledge 
from  predominant  reasons,  tlio  we  do  not  wdiolly  com- 
prehend it.  We  do  not  comprehend  the  facft  of  our  con- 
tinuation after  death,  and  yet  we  are  certain  of  it ;  we 
do  not  comprehend  the  existence  of  God,  and  yet  we 
are  certain  of  it;  we  do  not  comprehend  God's  judgment 
and  its  execution,  and  yet  w^e  are  certain  of  it.  The 
denial  w^ould  have,  moreover,  quite  different  incompre- 
hensibilities that  would  follow.  In  like  manner  it  is 
with  the  question  as  to  the  unity  of  God,  which  can 
not  be  abrogated  because  of  the  difference  of  God  from 
Christ,  of  the  Father  from  the  Son.  We  only  answer  : 
"God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  imto  Him- 
self ;  Him  who  knew  no  sin  He  made  to  be  sin  on  our 
behalf. ' '  The  proposition  adduced  against  the  incar- 
nation that  the  finite  can  not  contain  and  include  in 
itself  the  inß.mte—ß?tÜ2(m  ?io?i  est  capax  iiifiniti — is 
unsound,  for  this  is  not  the  question  here  at  all.  The 
question  is  the  contrary — namely,  w^hether  the  infinite 
is  capable   of   the  finite,   and   can  include   in   itself  : 

153 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

iyifiyiitum  est  capax  finiti.  But  it  is,  nevertheless,  cor- 
redt  to  affirm  that  the  finite  may  contain  the  infinite. 
There  is  only  One  who  is  infinite — God  ;  and  He 
once  only  entered  into  this  union  with  the  finite  by 
the  incarnation  in  Christ.  It  is  entirely  wrong  to 
think  of  God's  capacity  as  restridled  by  a  logical  law, 
because  there  also  exists  a  superrational,  tho  not  irra- 
tional, working  of  God.  God's  counsel  is  super- 
rational  for  the  redemption  of  those  who,  tho  not  lost 
according  to  the  law  of  reason,  still  are  lost.  The 
wisdom  of  God,  which  has  chosen  not  the  wise,  the 
noble,  the  strong,  but  the  foolish  things,  the  weak 
things,  the  things  that  are  not,  is  superrational.  Super- 
rational,  not  irrational,  is  our  redemption  through  the 
Cross.  Superrational,  not  irrational,  is  our  redemption 
through  the  incarnation  of  God. 

If  this  be  so,  we  are  not  to  say  that  the  divinity  of 
Christ  manifests  itself  only  in  His  ability,  in  His  moral 
purity,  in  His  miracles,  in  His  power  to  suffer  and  to  I 
die,  and  yet  to  rise  again.  His  miracles  He  performed  J 
by  reason  of  His  extraordinary  endowment  from  the 
Father,  as  Moses  and  Elias  did  before  Him.  He  walked ' 
without  sin,  and  overcame  every  temptation,  as  we 
should,  but  as  we  do  not ;  He  suffered  and  died,  be- 
cause He  was  like  us,  our  brother,  and  by  the  resusci- 
tation that  occurred  to  Him,  through  the  power  of  the 
Father,  He  became  the  first-fruits  of  them  that  are 
asleep.  But  if  all  this  is  to  have  something  of  signifi- 
cance not  only  for  Him  but  for  us,  if  all  this  is  to 
inure  to  our  benefit,  it  is  because  He  is  the  Messiah 
who  does  it  and  to  whom  it  happens.  And  that  He  is 
and  can  be  the  Messiah  follows  from  the  fa6l  that  He 

154 


THE  PERSON   OF  CHRIST 


is  our  brother,  who  belongs  to  us,  not  as  all  others,  to 
our  injury  and  to  theirs  (for  every  one  who  is  born, 
unless  he  becomes  a  believing  Christian,  aggravates 
sin  and  guilt,  and  becomes  a  curse  to  others,  instead  of 
ablessing),  but  for  our  benefit,  because  He  is  forever 
God  and  I^ord. 

He  thus  became  no  more  than  we  are,  because  being 
God  He  became  man.  His  incarnation  is  not  and  does 
not  bring  about  a  grading  up  of  the  human  beyond  the 
measure  of  the  human.  It  is  nothing  but  self-humili- 
ation. He  was  born  that  He  might  die,  as  we  are  told 
in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (ii :  14).  We  all  bring 
death  with  us  into  the  world,  so  that  it  is  the  conse- 
quence of  our  birth.  With  Him  this  consequence  was 
at  the  same  time  a  purpose.  This  is  the  difference  be- 
tween Him  and  us.  He,  the  Prince  of  Life,  was  born 
that  He  might  die.  This  is  what  Paul  has  in  mind 
when  he  writes  of  Christ  that  He,  ' '  being  in  the  form 
of  God,  counted  it  not  a  prize  to  be  on  an  equality  with 
God,  but  emptied  Himself ^  taking  the  form  of  a  serv- 
ant, being  made  in  the  likeness  of  man,  and  being  found 
in  fashion  as  a  man,  He  humbled  himself,  becoming 
obedient  even  unto  death,  yea,  the  death  of  the  cross." 
If  it  were  not  Jesus  to  whom  we  look,  if  it  were  not  a 
question  of  making  the  impossible  possible,  if  all  this 
were  not  a  concern  of  our  salvation,  if  it  were  not  that 
Jesus  to  whom  we  can  pray,  we  should  not  believe  it, 
but  despair.  Now,  however j  He,  our  brother,  and  yet 
our  God  and  Lord,  comes  before  our  eyes  in  this  form 
of  the  suffering  One,  justified  of  God  through  the 
resurrecftion,  proved  by  the  resurredlion  to  be  the  Son 
of  God  chosen  as  Savior.     Therefore,  we  can  not  do 

155 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

otherwise  than  express  in  this  apostolic  word  the 
miracle  which  we  beheve.  It  is  no  speculation  of  the 
apostle,  set  forth  as  his  own,  and  not  to  be  acknowl- 
edged by  us.  It  is  the  fa(5l  of  our  redemption,  pur- 
posed of  God,  proclaimed  by  Jesus,  and  therefore 
purchased  with  His  death.  He  describes,  indeed,  a 
fa(5l  which  is  so  wondrous  that  none  would  believe  it 
unless  the  presence  of  Jesus  proved  it — the  presence  of 
Him  who  is  both  our  brother  and  yet  our  God  and 
Lord.  To  a  similar  effedl  he  also  says  at  another  time 
(II.  Corinthians  viii  19):  ''  For  ye  know  the  grace  of 
our  Eord  Jesus  Christ  that,  tho  he  was  rich,  yet  for 
your  sakes  he  became  poor,  that  ye  through  his  pov- 
erty might  become  rich." 

John,  of  course,  seems  to  speak  differently  of  the  in- 
carnation. He  calls  Jesus  the  Word,  in  whom  from 
eternity,  already  before  the  foundation  of  the  world,  all 
is  appointed  that  God  has  to  say  unto  us.  Through 
Jesus'  mediation,  therefore,  the  world  is  created,  which 
from  the  beginning  to  this  day  was  and  is  referred  to 
Him,  the  light  of  life,  the  source  of  all  peace  for  every 
one  of  us.  It  is  He  of  whom  we  need  only  to  think  in 
order  to  have  before  us  everything  w^hich  God  has  to 
say  to  us.  But  that  which  God  has  to  say  to  us,  that 
which  in  the  deepest  ground  of  His  being  He  has  left  for 
us,  this  in  His  love  He  is  Himself.  He  has  left  Himself 
for  us.  Himself  He  will  give  to  us  and  does  give  to  us  b}^ 
giving  us  His  Son.  Therefore,  He  in  whom  all  this 
stands  before  us  as  present  and  forever  is  from  eter- 
nity as  God — the  Word  is  God.  And  of  this  Word, 
which  was  before  the  world  was,  God  in  God  or  to 
God,  it  is  said  that  it  became  what  we  are.     The  Word 

156 


THE   PKRvSON  OF  CHRLST 


became  flesh,  not  merely  dwelt  in  the  flesh,  but  it  be- 
came flesh — the  greatest  imaginable  contrast,  and  one 
which  we,  who  are  flesh,  subjec5l  to  death,  would 
hardly  dare  to  express  if  it  were  not  Jesus  of  whom 
this  is  predicated.  But  He  who  was  God,  and  to 
whom  we  are  referred  from  the  beginning,  through 
whom  alone  we  have  and  can  have  the  life  everlasting, 
thus  deeply  humbled  Himself  even  unto  death,  and 
went  into  the  realm  of  the  dead,  yes,  and  beyond  it, 
that  He  may  fully  belong  to  us.  This  is  the  wonder- 
ful fa(5l  that  flesh,  our  flesh,  the  material  appearance  of 
our  being,  became  to  Him  the  means  of  belonging  to 
us  and  of  proving  Himself  ours  by  suffering  and  death. 
Therefore,  it  is  said  in  the  first  espistle  of  John 
(I.John  iv  :  2,  3)  :  "Every  spirit  which  confesseth 
that  Jesus  Christ  "  (the  Son  of  the  Father,  with  whom 
we  are  to  have  communion  with  the  Father)  *  *  is  come 
in  the  flesh  "  (so  that  the  flesh  became  the  means  of 
proving  Himself  as  the  Messiah,  as  Savior)  '  4s  of  God, 
and  every  spirit  w^hich  confesseth  not  that  Jesus  Christ 
came  into  the  flesh  is  not  of  God."  This  he  says  of 
that  Jesus  of  whom  he  writes  at  the  end  of  this 
epistle  :  "This  is  the  true  God  and  eternal  life,"  as 
Paul  (Romans  ix  :  4,  5)  says  when  he  praises  the  pre- 
rogatives of  Israel :  "Of  whom  is  Christ  as  concerning 
the  flesh,  who  is  over  all,  God,  blessed  forever." 

But  how  does  it  appear  that  this  is  not,  after  all,  the 
opposite  conception  from  that  of  the  apostle  Paul? 
Paul  speaks  of  the  humiliation,  John  of  the  majestj^ 
and  glory  of  the  Word  which  became  flesh.  But  after 
he  has  said,  * '  The  Word  became  flesh, ' '  he  continues  : 
"  And  dwelt  among  us,  and  we  beheld  His  glory,  glory 

157 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

as  of  the  only  begotten  from  the  Father,  full  of  grace 
and  truth. "  Is  it  not  for  him  the  principal  thing  that 
he  saw,  not  the  flesh,  but  the  glory  of  God  in  Christ, 
in  the  Word  which  became  flesh  ?  * '  No  man  hath 
seen  God  at  any  time  ;  the  only  begotten  Son  "  (who 
is  the  true  Son  of  the  Father  in  distindlion  from  us,  the 
children  adopted  by  grace) ,  *  *  He  hath  declared  him. ' ' 
Upon  this  phravSe  I  pause  to  remark  that,  according  to 
the  connedlion,  as  far  as  I  see,  the  reading,  **The 
only  begotten  Son,"  can  alone  be  genuine,  and  not 
* '  The  only  begotten  God, ' '  nor  ' '  God  only  begotten, ' ' 
in  spite  of  the  English  authorities,  and  afterward  the 
German,  who  adopted  the  latter  phrase.  The  text  that 
follows— "  Which  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father" — 
refers  to  the  truth  and  adluality  of  the  Sonship,  made 
known  as  genuine  by  the  ' '  bosom  position  ' '  that  is 
assigned  to  Him.  But  this  is  only  by  the  way. 
Does  not  John  mean  to  say  that  out  of  the  flesh  of 
Jesus  has  unmistakably  shone  upon  Him  the  Divine 
Being  who  is  distinct  therefrom  ?  For  what  does  he 
understand  by  the  glory  of  Jesus,  which  Jesus  mani- 
fested at  Cana  in  Galilee,  so  that  His  disciples  believed 
on  Him  ?  What  does  Jesus  understand  by  the  glory 
of  God  when  He  says  to  Martha  :  "If  thou  believedst, 
thou  shouldst  see  the  glory  of  God  "  ?  Is,  perchance, 
the  wondrous  power  of  Jesus  an  emanation  of  His 
otherwise  hidden  glory  ?  But  Jesus  performs  no  mir- 
acles in  the  power  of  that  which  he  is  eternally,  but 
in  the  power  of  a  special  Divine  investiture  for  His 
Messianic  call,  which  He  received  because  He  declined 
to  prove  His  Divinity  otherwise  than  by  suffering. 
This  glory  to  which  John  testifies  was  the  glory  of 
158 


THE   PERSON  OF  CHRIST 


His  Messiahship,  the  humiliation  of  Him  who  was 
God,  because  He  came  not  to  judge  the  world  but  to 
save  it.  By  this  glory  John  knew  Him  who  was  God 
forever.  This  could  only  be  He  whom  the  Father's 
wondrous  love  has  given  to  us  that  all  who  believe  in 
Him  should  not  perish  but  have  life  everlasting.  To 
believe  in  Jesus  and  in  this  faith,  to  have  the  life  in  His 
name,  this  was  and  remained  to  John  always  a  paradox. 
And  that  this  paradox  was  and  is  demanded  lie  per- 
ceived as  a  paradox  of  the  bodily  appearance  of  Jesus 
with  His  eternal  essence.  Yet  it  is  this  very  paradox 
that  revealed  to  John  the  Messianic  calling  of  Jesus. 
Eternal  God  and  yet  like  us,  and  because  like  us 
therefore  belonging  to  us,  and  because  belonging  to 
us  more  completely  than  any  other  wdio  might  desire 
to  pass  beyond  our  bound  and  be  like  God — eritis 
sicut  Deus — therefore  the  McvSsiah  and  our  Savior  ! 
According  to  John,  the  humiliation  even  of  the  Word 
which  became  flesh  is  our  salvation. 

And  this  Jesus — thus  it  is  demanded  by  some,  and 
even  a  historian  like  Harnack  pursues  this  demand — 
ought  to  have  communicated  to  His  disciples  the  secret 
of  His  "  fatherless  birth,"  as  it  is  called,  and  of  His 
everlasting,  supermundane  going  forth.  But  were  the 
disciples  able  to  understand  and  believe  this  before  they 
had  known  the  whole  tenor  of  His  Messianic  calling  ? 
That  He  is  the  Son  of  God  and  that  they  perceived 
Him  as  Son  of  God,  this,  as  we  have  said,  was  already 
expressed  in  their  acknowledgment  of  His  Messiah- 
ship.  That  it  contained  no  blasphemy  they  were  per- 
suaded, because  they  perceived  in  Him  the  Messiah, 
as  the  Jews  also  unhesitatingly  conceded  this  predicate 

159 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

to  the  Messiah  who  adlually  should  prove  to  be  Mes- 
siah. This  is  also  expressed  in  the  adjuring  question 
of  the  high  priest :  '*  Art  Thou  Christ,  the  Son  of  the 
living  God?  "  But  just  in  what  manner  He  was  the 
Son  of  God,  what  this  Divine  Sonship  signified,  this 
they  could  only  perceive  when  the  w^hole  blessed  real- 
ity of  all  that  His  Messiahship  comprehended  and 
meant  for  them  was  laid  before  them.  Till  then  they 
still  waited  for  the  revelation  of  His  Messiahship,  altho 
and  because  they  believed  in  it ;  but  they  knew  not 
that  all  this  which  they  could  not  j^et  harmonize  with 
His  Messiahship  was,  in  fa(5l,  the  proof  of  His  Mes- 
siahship. It  was  proof  that  He  had  come  not  to  judge 
the  world,  but  to  redeem  it;  not  to  destroy  the  lives  of 
men,  but  to  save  them.  What  He  told  them  on  the  last 
night — "  I  came  out  from  the  Father  and  am  come  into 
the  world;  again  I  leave  the  world,  and  go  unto  the 
Father ' '  ;  and  what  He  prayed  in  this  last  night :  "  O 
Father,  glorify  Thou  Me  with  Thine  own  self,  with  the 
glory  which  I  had  with  Thee  before  the  world  was  ' ' 
— were  most  important  and  mysterious  utterances 
whose  significance  was  soon  to  become  intelligible  to 
the  disciples,  but  was  not  3^et  clear,  because  they 
could  not  yet  understand  His  way. 

No,  He  could  not  tell.  He  could  not  communicate  to 
the  disciples  the  m3^stery  of  His  birth.  He  thought 
of  His  Father  and  of  all  that  which  He  had  given  up, 
not  as  a  sacrifice,  but  as  One  who  would  be  nothing 
other  than  we  are.  On  this  account  He  speaks  of  it 
just  as  little  as  of  His  Messiahship.  From  His  adls 
and  His  experience  they  should  know  Him,  and  did 
know  Him  finally  so  well  that  they  learned  to  pray  to 

160 


THE   PKRSON  OF  CHRIST 


Him  and  had  to  pray  to  Him.  From  now  on  they  knew 
that  He  was  God  from  eternity,  and  understood  what, 
properly  speaking,  many  could  now  communicate  only 
to  those  who  were  convinced  of  His  Divine  Messiah- 
ship. 

What  the  evangelists  Matthew  and  Luke  record 
does  not  have  for  its  purpose  to  make  clear  to  us  the 
incarnation  of  Him  who  was  God,  but  it  is  not  there- 
fore merely  a  producft  of  legend  and  poetry  which 
could  only  have  originated  in  the  Christian  congrega- 
tion. It  rather  traces  the  birth  of  the  child  of  Mary, 
appointed  as  Messiah,  and  thus  as  King  of  the  King- 
dom of  God,  and  as  Savior  of  the  world,  to  the  work- 
ing of  the  Spirit  of  God,  by  which  all  workings  of 
God,  especially  all  workings  of  grace,  consummate 
themselves.  God's  Spirit  brings  it  about  that  Mary, 
Joseph's  betrothed,  should  bear  the  child  in  the  line 
of  David's  house,  and  thus  it  becomes  heir  to  David's 
throne.  God's  Spirit  brings  it  about  that  this  child 
shall  be  born  in  order  to  die,  that  thereby  the  reverse 
be  prepared  for  us,  even  eternal  Hfe.  God's  Spirit 
brings  it  about  that  Simeon  comes  to  the  temple,  sees 
the  little  child  which  is  brought  there  by  the  parents, 
and  breaks  out  into  the  words  of  his  song  of 
praise:  "Now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  depart  in 
peace,  O  Lord,  according  to  Thy  word;  for  mine  eyes 
have  seen  Thy  salvation,  which  Thou  hast  prepared 
before  the  face  of  all  peoples;  a  light  for  revelation  to 
the  Gentiles,  and  the  glory  of  Thy  people  Israel. ' '  And 
the  same  Spirit  of  God  brings  it  about  that  Simeon 
prophesied:  "  This  is  set  for  the  falling  and  rising  up 
of    many  in  Israel,  and  for  a  sign  which  is  spoken 

161 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

against."     We  perceive  that  this  child,  so  wondrously 
born  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  is  yet  born  in 
order  to  die  ;  we  perceive  that  in  both  evangeHsts  this 
child's  history  is  a  history  misunderstood  of  men,  a 
history  of  suffering,  such  as  no  other  man  ever  experi- 
enced it.     But  this  child  and  this  man  had  to  experi- 
ence it  if  He  is  to  be  one  come,   not  to  judge  the 
world,  which  had  indeed  ripened  them  for  judgment, 
but  one  who  should  save  it.     '  *  Conceived  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,"  but  ''born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,"  saluted  and 
praised  by  God's  angels,  but  ''suffered  under  Pontius 
Pilate,  was  crucified,  dead,  and  buried,  descended  to 
the  dead  ' ' — this  was  His  lot.     That  His  birth  already, 
altho  so  wondrously  brought  about,  belongs   to   the 
history  of  suffering  is  easily  seen  when  we  consider 
that,  according  to   both  evangelists,  Joseph,  the  be- 
trothed of  Mary,  only  learned  later  what  honor  awaited 
her  and  what  task  was  also  intended  for  him.    There 
was  no  man  who  had  believed  Mary  when  she  narrated 
what  happened  to  her — Joseph,  indeed,  the  least.     She 
had  to  keep  silent  and  commit  to  God  her  way.  There- 
fore, she  humbled  herself,  and  said  to  the  angel :  "Be- 
hold the  handmaid  of  the  Eord;  be  it  unto  me  according 
to  Thy  w^ord  ' ' — the  deepest  humiliation  which  till  then 
a  human  being  could  take   upon  herself,  and  which 
could  bring  to  her   the   fate  of  being  repudiated  by 
Joseph  and  being  despised  by  every  one  as  an  unmar- 
ried woman  who  was  about  to  bring  forth.    And  Joseph 
could   just   as   little  speak  about  it  to  any   one,  be- 
cause there  was  none  who  would  have  believed  him. 
Thus  nothing  was  left  them  but  to  keep  the  secret  and 
say  nothing  about  it  till  Mary's  mouth  was  opened 
162 


THE    PERSON   OF  CHRIST 


when  Jesus  had  risen  and  ascended  to  heaven.  And 
there  was  kept  and  transmitted  by  the  congregation 
an  account  of  this  annunciation  which  could  only 
depend  on  Mary's  communications,  and  which  was  so 
chaste  and  careful  that  nothing  was  added  beyond  this 
little  of  the  Divine  miracle,  till  the  wild  fancy  of  later 
time  i7ivented  a  history  of  the  birth  and  infancy  which 
has  not  the  remotest  idea  of  the  humiliation  of  Him 
who  was  God. 

This  very  history  of  the  birth  in  Matthew  and  Euke, 
in  its  stricft  scantiness  and  holy  chastity,  serv^es  as  con- 
firmation for  the  words  of  Paul  and  John,  who  wholly 
express  the  mystery.  It  is  God's  working  that  the 
child  is  born,  it  is  God  who  becomes  man,  and  con- 
descends to  us,  and  in  this  child,  just  because  and  only 
because  it  is  thus  humble,  and  belongs  entirely  to  us, 
we  have  the  Messiah,  the  Savior  ! 

Thus  the  resurre<5lion  of  Christ  leads  us  to  the  knowl- 
edge and  the  acknowledgment  of  His  eternal  Godhead, 
and  thus  to  the  knowdedge  of  the  miracle  without  an 
equal — the  incarnation  of  Him  who  eternally  was 
and  is  and  shall  be  God,  and  nevertheless  who  be- 
came forever  man  for  our  good.  The  resurrecftion,  the 
resuscitation.  He  experienced  happened  to  Him  because 
He  was  man.  It  is  nothing  extraordinary,  tlio  it 
does  not  issue  as  the  consequence  of  our  humanity 
per  se,  but  rather  as  a  sequence  of  the  grace  of  God 
toward  us  men.  Christ  rose  because  He  was  man, 
because  He  was  and  is  hke  us.  But  through  the  resur- 
re(5lion  it  became  possible  to  Him,  the  man  Jesus,  to 
demonstrate  and  to  prove  that  He  is  also  the  Christ, 
the  Messiah.     Whoever  experiences  and  knows  this 

IG'J 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


knows  also  that  He  must  needs  rise,  that  this  was  the 
justification  which  He  must  needs  experience,  even 
tho  no  one  had  attested  it  to  us.  But  it  was  impossi- 
ble that  we  should  fail  of  a  sufi&cient  attestation  of 
this,  for  it  must  be  experienced  that  He  is  a  Savior, 
and  this  experience  with  Him  as  the  Savior  by  the 
realization  of  His  presence  is,  in  fa6l,  the  experience 
that  He  actually  has  risen,  has  aAually  returned  from 
death  and  the  realm  of  the  dead  to  His  own,  has  re- 
turned forever,  in  order  to  be  experienced  forever  as 
the  Messiah.  But  to  be  the  Messiah,  and  allow  as 
one  beyond  space  and  time  to  be  experienced  as  a 
present  Messiah  by  lost  sinners  was  not  human— it  was 
Divine.  The  Messiah,  the  anointed  of  God,  the  chosen 
and  appointed  King  of  His  Kingdom,  is  God  and 
Lord.  He  did  not  become  God,  for  this  no  one  can  do, 
but  He  is  God  yet  became  man  in  order  to  be  wholly 
and  forever  with  us,  and  to  be  everything  that  He  is 
for  our  benefit.  This  is  the  miracle  of  all  miracles- 
incomprehensible,  inconceivable,  but  real  and  true. 
The  resurredlion  is  a  miracle — it  is  the  decisive  miracle  ; 
on  it  depends  all  that  concerns  Jesus.  The  incarna- 
tion, however,  is  the  greater  miracle  and  the  greatest 
of  all  miracles  to  which  the  resurrec5lion  leads  us. 

The  acknowledgment,  however,  of  the  miracle  of 
the  resurredlion,  and  thereby  of  the  greater  miracle  of 
the  incarnation,  is  the  acknowledgment  of  the  fa(5l 
of  our  pardon,  of  our  redemption.  Our  pardon,  our 
redemption,  is  no  less  wondrous  than  the  fa(5l  of  the 
incarnation  of  Him  who  is  God.  One  is  as  certainly 
a  paradox  as  the  other,  the  reverse  of  all  that  is  self- 
evident  and  consistent,  the  one  no  less  than  the  other. 

164 


THE   PERSON  OF  CHRIST 


Can  I  believe  the  one,  my  pardon,  I  can  also  believe 
the  other,  His  incarnation;  yes,  I  must  believe  it,  far 
these  two  are  inseparably  united.  Pardon  with  the 
incarnation  of  God  is  a  true  pardon,  by  which  I,  tlie 
sinner,  have  the  living  God.  Without  the  incarnation 
it  may  only  be  a  pardon  given  in  gentle  pity  for  my 
errors,  the  mistakes  of  my  wrong  development.  But 
the  greater  these  appear  to  me  the  more  impossible  it 
is  to  regard  them  as  pardonable  through  such  a  slight- 
ing of  them.  For  the  hour  comes  certainly  in  which  I 
must  confess  what  the  Psalmist  has  already  confessed 
thousands  of  years  before  :  ' '  For  mine  iniquities  are 
gone  over  mine  head,  as  an  heavy  burden  they  are  too 
heavy  for  me.  For  day  and  night  Thy  hand  was  heavy 
upon  me:  my  moisture  was  changed  as  with  the  drought 
of  summer."  Well  for  me,  then,  if  I  still  have  time 
and  strength  to  betake  myself  for  refuge  to  the  whole, 
wondrous,  unsearchably  great  mercy  of  our  God  ! 

The  resurre<5lion  of  the  man  Jesus,  the  Messiah  of 
God,  and  the  incarnation  belong  together,  as  also  the 
incarnation  of  God  and  our  resurre(5lion,  or  our  redemp- 
tion till  its  completion  in  the  resurrection.  It  is  not, 
how^ever,  as  if  now,  after  the  facfts  stand  before  our 
eyes,  a  priori,  the  one  can  be  .seen  as  a  result  of  the 
other,  or  as  if  the  one  could  be  developed  from  the 
other  by  some  rational  necessity.  On  the  contrary, 
we  perceive  how  everything  fits  in  and  harmcm- 
izes  with  every  other  thing,  how  ererything  locks 
together,  and  how  ever^^thing  is  a  free  Divine  deed. 
Free  a(5lion  is  the  cause  of  our  redemption,  of  Christ's 
resuscitation,  of  His  Messiahship,  His  incarnation. 
Everything  is  by  free  adlion.     Everything  is  rational, 

165 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

but  nothing  is  necessary  for  reason,  rather  everything 
is  superrational.  Only  thus  do  we  understand  the 
way  of  the  Messiah,  the  way  of  Jesus  to  the  cross, 
which  He  went  indeed  voluntarily,  and  yet  was,  as  it 
were,  compelled  to  die.  He  gave  Himself  unto  death 
and  was  "  obedient  even  unto  death."  He  gave  His 
hfe  as  a  ransom  for  many,  and  yet  He  was  delivered 
up  into  the  hands  of  men  w^ho  treated  Him  as  they 
pleased.  "For  as  the  Father  hath  hfe  in  Himself, 
even  so  gave  He  to  the  Son  also  to  have  life  in  Him- 
self ' ' ;  and  yet  '  *  As  Moses  lifted  up  the  serpent  in  the 
wilderness,  even  so  must  the  Son  of  Man  be  Hfted  up." 
He  had  to  die  that  we  should  have  life.  "  No  one," 
said  He,  *'  taketh  My  life  from  Me,  but  I  lay  it  down 
of  myself  ' ' ;  and  again  :  ' '  This  is  your  hour  and  the 
power  of  darkness." 

Thus  this  Jesus,  this  Messiah,  acflually  belongs  in 
the  Gospel  in  spite  of  Harnack's  contradidlion.  He  is 
the  Gospel  of  God  for  the  lost  world.  He  proclaims 
the  Kingdom  of  God,  His  disciples  proclaim  Him  the 
King  of  the  Kingdom,  because  from  the  King  it  fol- 
lows that  the  Kingdom  exists.  Christ  is  the  King; 
as  such  He  can  be  known  and  experienced,  and  is 
known  and  experienced,  tho  He  does  not  look  as  if 
He  were  a  King.  In  like  manner  is  the  Kingdom  of 
God  experienced  in  righteousness,  peace,  and  joy  in 
the  Holy  Spirit,  altho  it  does  not  look  as  if  it  existed 
in  reality  as  a  fulfilment  of  all  Divine  promises,  as  the 
tenor  of  all  happiness  only  known  and  felt  by  those 
who  were  unhappy  and  lost.  The  Gospel  which  Jesus 
proclaimed  was  the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
and  therefore  the  Gospel  about  Himself.     Therefore 

166 


THE   PERSON  OF  CHRIST 


He  could  sa}^  :  "If  I,  by  the  finger  of  God,  or  in 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  cast  out  devils,  then  is  the 
Kingdom  of  God  come  upon  you  without  your  knowl- 
edge." Therefore  He  speaks  strangely  on  tlie  one 
hand,  like  John  the  Baptist:  "Repent,  for  the  King- 
dom of  God  is  at  hand,"  and  then  again  no  more 
like  the  Baptist,  because  John  spoke  of  the  mightier 
who  was  to  come  after  him,  whereas  Jesus  spoke  not  of 
another  One,  but  of  Himself.  Once  only  did  He  speak 
of  another  One  :  "I  am  come  in  My  Father's  name, 
and  ye  receive  Me  not ;  if  another  shall  come  in  His 
own  name,  Him  ye  will  receive."  He  puts  Himself 
and  His  authority  from  the  beginning  of  the  Sermon 
on  the  Mount  to  its  close  over  against  all  authorities 
to  which  the  people  otherwise  listen.  He  says : 
"Come  unto  Me  all  3'e  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest."  He  is  not  known  and 
acknowledged  as  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  God,  because, 
according  to  His  appearance,  He  is  nothing  but  a  son 
of  man — a  man  among  men.  As  a  man  among  men 
He  is  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  God,  from  eternity  to 
eternity.  This  mystery,  that  the  son  of  man  (as  He  is 
called  by  those  who  would  establish  their  disbelief)  is 
also  the  Son  of  God,  and  that,  vice  versa,  the  Son  of 
God  is  the  son  of  man — just  this  is  the  blessed  mystery 
of  His  Messiahship,  the  mystery  of  the  incarnation 
of  God.  Without  Him,  without  His  person,  without 
His  attitude  toward  us  in  time  and  eternity  everything 
becomes  nothing.  Only  with  Him  are  we  something 
and  can  do  something.  Only  in  and  with  the  Word 
made  known  by  His  presence  do  w^e  have  Him. 

In  order  to  obtain  that  which  Harnack  calls  the 

167 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Gospel,  one  must,  in  facft,  reduce  the  entire  Gospel  to  the 
two  commandments  of  love  of  God  and  love  of  neigh- 
bor, which,  however,  are  already  Old  Testament  com- 
mandments, and  appear  in  the  Old  Testament,  more- 
over, as  comprehension  of  the  whole  law\  One  must  not, 
as  is  affirmed,  deepen  but  rather  empty  of  its  complete 
fulness  of  love  God's  Father's  name,  which  is  al- 
ready known  in  the  Old  Testament.  One  must  finally 
reduce  to  lower  terms,  from  its  infinite  value  and  emi- 
nence over  all  the  glory  of  the  world,  our  knowledge 
of  the  infinite  worth  of  the  soul  of  man,  tho  yet  a 
lost  soul — also  an  Old  Testament  idea.  Redudlion! 
Reducftion  of  the  grace  of  God,  reducftion  of  our  sin, 
redu(5lion  of  our  lost  estate,  redudlion  of  the  redeeming 
love  of  God,  redudlion  of  God's  freedom — nothing  but 
redu(5lion  is  the  real  Gospel  to  suffer.  To  this  end  we 
are  to  eliminate  everything  which  does  not  fit  in  order 
to  get  a  Christ  who  neither  is  more  than  we  are,  nor 
can  do  more  than  every  other  man,  who  is  only  gifted 
for  His  calling  !  But  separation  requires  only  art,  not 
science.  Jesus  not  only  belongs  in  the  Gospel,  He  is 
the  Gospel.  Gospel  is  the  correlate,  the  corresponding 
word  for  that  what  the  Old  Testament  promise  has  in 
view.  It  is  the  message  of  the  fulfilled  promise,  and 
there  is  no  Gospel  which  gives  up  the  fulfilment  of  the 
promise.  Jesus  is  the  fulfiller;  therefore  He  says:  "  I 
came  not  to  destroy,  but  to  fulfil."  As  the  fa(5l  of  the 
promise  is  a  free  gift  of  God's  grace  and  not  a  se- 
quence of  history  (the  promise  is  not,  in  the  phrase  of 
Sophocles,  "a  child  of  hope,"  but,  vice  versa,  in  Israel 
the  hope  is  a  child  of  the  promise),  then  its  fulfilment 
is  still  more  appropriately  a  free  gift  of  God's  grace. 

168 


THE   PERSON   OF  JESUS 


But  this  gift  is  Jesus,  the  Sou,  whoiu  the  Father  sent 
not  that  He  should  judge  the  world  but  that  He  should 
save  the  world.  It  follows  from  this  that  "  He  that 
believeth  on  the  Sou  hath  eternal  life,  but  he  that 
obeyeth  not  the  Sou  shall  nut  see  life,  but  the  wrath 
of  God  abideth  on  him. ' '  That  such  is  the  ca.se  every 
one  must  confess,  even  tho  he  would  not  have  it  so. 


IX 


APPEARANCE    OF    JESUS    AND    RECEPTION    IN 
ISRAEL 


^T^  HE)  Son  of  God  in  the  world,  the  Messiah  sent 
*  to  us  by  the  grace  of  God,  lauded  by  angels 

J^S  and  declared  to  men,  but  a  human  being 
like  other  human  beings,  who  did  not  look 
as  if  he  were  the  Son  of  God — such  was  the  Messiah  at 
His  advent.  How  and  whereby  should  He  be  known  ? 
Since  He  rose  from  the  dead  and  came  into  our  experi- 
ence as  the  Messiah,  through  the  realization  of  His 
self-humiliating  love  which  is  stronger  than  death  and 
hell,  all  mysteries  are  now  solved  and  banished,  but 
they  are  removed  only  in  such  a  manner  that  we  know 
the  mystery  of  His  appearance  no  more  as  a  mys- 
tery, but  as  the  necessary  proof  of  His  Messiahship. 

He  is  born  like  us,  the  son  of  a  woman;  lying  there 
bedded,  indeed,  as  other  men  are  not  bedded;  not  more 
glorious  and  magnificent,  but  poorer,  in  a  manger,  in  a 
trough  appointed  for  the  cattle  and  ordinarily  used  by 
cattle.  With  pains  and  tears  Mary  waited  for  her 
hour.  Now  she  rejoices  that  a  man  is  born  into  the 
world,  but  she  can  tell  nobody  what  has  happened  to 
her.  She  must  keep  quiet  and  Joseph  must  keep 
quiet,  for  no  one  could  and  would  believe  them  ;  they 
would  spoil  everything  from  the  very  start.  A  vision 
of  angels  announces  to  the  shepherds  what  had  taken 
place  :  Christ  the  I^ord,  the  Messiah,  is  born  in  the 

170 


APPEARANCE  OF  JESUS  IN  ISRAEL 

city  of  David,  in  Bethlehem,  l)ut  poor,  lying  in  swad- 
dling-clothes in  a  manger.  There  is  no  word  to  tell 
us  who  the  child  is,  save  that  He  is  the  vSon  and  heir 
of  David's  throne,  the  long-expedled  Messiah.  They 
believe  this,  for  to  the  poor  and  humble  the  greatest 
prospe(5l  which  is  opened  is  not  incredible,  which 
often  seems  incredible  to  one  who  knows  the  har- 
monious order  of  the  world.  Far  less  was  it  incred- 
ible to  the  Israelites,  who  had  yearned  so  long  already 
for  the  Messiah  that  was  to  avert  the  judgment  of 
God  and  heal  the  miseries  of  the  people.  They  come 
and  worship  and  declare  what  they  have  seen, 
but  Mary  and  Joseph  are  silent,  and  Mary  kept  all 
these  things,  pondering  them  in  her  heart.  The  in- 
habitants of  Bethlehem  hear  from  the  shepherds  what 
they  have  seen,  but  no  one  goes  to  them  and  believes 
that  the  child  of  these  foot  travelers,  lying  poor  in 
its  manger,  is  the  Messiah.  But  Joseph  relied  on  faith 
in  Him  whom  he  did  not  see,  and  called  the  child,  as 
the  angel  had  bidden  him,  "Jesus  " — i.e.,  Redeemer, 
Helper,  Savior,  Deliverer.  Herod  hears  of  Him  through 
the  Gentiles  who  have  received  a  sign,  and  have  now 
come  to  inquire  where  the  born  King  of  the  Jews  is. 
With  the  fear  arising  from  a  bad  conscience  he  learns  the 
certainty  of  the  truth  of  this  news,  and  seeks  to  kill 
the  child.  God  proteds  it,  but  only  in  such  wise  that 
it  is  hidden  from  men.  The  fame  of  Him  is  silenced 
by  reason  of  the  great  sorrow  which  Herod's  infanticide 
has  brought  upon  Bethlehem.  When  Joseph  and  Mary 
return  from  Egypt,  and,  moreover,  not  to  Bethlehem 
but  to  Nazareth,  no  one  knows  anything  of  the 
child.     Jesus  is  educated  in  the  quiet  and  obscurity  of 

171 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  artisan's  house,  which  He  leaves  only  once,  when 
tw^elve  j^ears  of  age,  to  go  with  the  parents  to  Jeru- 
salem. There  He  finds  and  feels  Himself  at  home  in 
the  temple,  in  the  house  of  the  Father,  of  His  Father. 
He  associates  with  the  priests  and  scribes,  questions 
them  and  is  questioned  of  them,  as  teacher  and  pupil 
usually  ask  and  answer  each  other,  and  every  one 
wonders  at  His  most  promising  gifts.  But  Mary  and 
Joseph  feel  only  pain  at  His  stay  ;  they  seek  Him  for 
three  days,  and  find  Him  finally  in  the  temple.  When 
Mary  upbraids  Him,  He  does  not  understand  her, 
but  she  also  does  not  understand  Him,  and  apprehends 
not  that  it  was  unnecessary  for  her  to  seek  the  child 
committed  to  her,  because  at  Jerusalem  He  could  have 
been  in  no  other  place  than  in  the  house  of  Him  whom 
He  inv^^ardl}^  called  Father  in  a  more  perfecff  sense 
than  that  in  which  any  other  could  address  God. 
Jesus  understands  her  not,  but  He  goes  with  His  parents 
to  Nazareth  and  is  subje(5l  unto  them,  as  the  law  of 
the  Father  demanded  it.  Thus  He  reaches  thirty 
years  of  age.  Himself  a  carpenter,  like  Joseph  had 
been.  Thirty  years  of  obscurity  of  the  Son  of  God 
in  the  world  !  What  a  humiliation  was  this  for  the 
mother,  whose  husband  had  died  long  ago,  and  who 
now,  with  the  other  children,  turned  to  Him,  the  first- 
born, for  guidance  !  What  a  humiliating  path  was 
this  for  Jesus  to  tread  !  But  Mary  walked  it  and 
He  walked  it,  and  tho  Mary  had  to  conquer  herself, 
He  had  not  to  conquer  Himself,  but  at  the  most  only 
such  temptations  as  come  to  Him  from  the  world,  as 
later  on,  when  His  brethren  tempted  Him  (John 
vii:3). 

172 


APPEARANCE  OF  JESUS  IN  ISRAEL 

Then  came  John  (a  Judean,  related  to  Jesus  but  un- 
acquainted with  Him,  who  had  grown  up  in  heathenish 
Gahlee),  the  precursor  and  preparer  of  the  way  of  the 
Messiah.  He  had  received  the  Divine  message  of  the 
time  which  was  now  to  begin  and  of  the  Messiah  who 
was  to  come.  John  received  the  instrucflion  for  His 
appearance  through  the  Word  of  God,  which  came  to 
him  as  once  to  the  prophets.  Not  so  was  it  with 
Jesus.  Jesus  must  needs  go  the  ways  only  which  the 
whole  people,  which  every  other  had  to  go,  when  a 
prophet  of  God  appeared  and  announced  what  was  to 
happen.  For  ' '  The  Lord  God  will  do  nothing,  but  He 
revealeth  His  secret  unto  His  servants  the  prophets, ' ' 
and  the  people  must  needs  hear  what  Jehovah  had 
revealed.  John  preached  and  baptized  with  the  bap- 
tism of  repentance  for  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  as  we 
have  already  stated.  Jesus  went  to  him,  now  more 
deeply  moved  by  the  hour  which  was  now  come  than 
any  of  His  brothers  of  the  children  of  Israel,  for  whom 
and  with  w^hom  He  felt,  believed,  hoped,  and  longed. 
He  had  indeed  nothing  to  confess,  like  the  others,  that 
burdened  Him  as  guilt,  and  therefore,  as  it  seemed, 
nothing  to  seek  of  the  Baptist.  But  that  which  bur- 
dened Him  was  the  guilt  which  He  had  to  share  wnth 
His  brothers,  was  the  judgment  under  which  they 
groaned,  were  the  sins  which  they  had  committed. 
The  blessing  and  guilt  of  the  whole  people  were  His 
blessing  and  His  guilt,  the  people's  faith  and  hope 
His  faith  and  His  hope,  for  He  thought  not  of  Him- 
self but  of  His  brothers,  to  whom  He  belonged,  into 
whose  communion  He  was  born,  and  for  w^hom  He 
had  now  to  carry  their  sins.     John,  the  prophet  of  the 

173 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Messiah,  knows  Him  for  whom  he  w^as  sent  and 
w^hom  he  had  hitherto  not  known.  He  knows  not  His 
name;  but  he  knows  His  office,  and  knows,  therefore. 
Him,  the  bearer  of  this  office.  Through  Divine  illu- 
mination it  becomes  clear  to  John  that  this  is  the  man 
for  whom  with  Israel  and  for  Israel  he  has  waited.  On 
this  account  he  refuses  to  baptize  Him  with  the  bap- 
tism w^hich  could  onl}^  symbolize  and  warrant  the 
forgiveness  of  sins,  the  forgiveness  which  this  very 
Messiah  was  to  bring  in  the  power  of  God,  in  the  power 
of  the  Spirit;  and  therefore  in  truth  he  said:  '*I 
have  need  to  be  baptized  of  Thee,  and  comest  Thou  to 
me?  "  We  understand  this  refusal.  But  do  we  also 
understand  the  answer  of  Jesus  :  * '  For  thus  it  becom- 
eth  us  to  fulfil  all  righteousness  ' '  ?  How  for  Him  and 
for  the  Baptist  could  this  belong  to  righteousness,  to 
that  w^hich  has  God's  verdidl  in  its  favor,  that  Jesus 
should  suffer  Himself  to  be  baptized,  and  that  John 
should  baptize  Him?  And  yet  that  Jesus  suffered 
Himself  to  be  baptized  is  a  fa(5l  that  issues  as  a  conse- 
quence of  the  same  human  necessity  whereby  He  had 
become  a  member  of  Israel,  and  therefore  for  the  Bap- 
tist it  appears  as  a  consequence  of  his  calling  that  he 
should  baptize  this  just  One  for  whom  he  existed. 
The  desire  of  Jesus  was  to  do  the  duty  and  the  deeds 
of  One  who  had  humbled  Himself  to  live  and  to  suffer 
wdth  His  brethren,  to  humble  Himself  before  the  living 
God,  and  to  hope  in  His  goodness.  Upon  Him  rested 
the  burden  of  the  sin  and  guilt  of  His  people,  the 
chosen  people,  and  still  more,  that  of  the  other  human 
race.  He  thought  not  of  Himself,  but  of  us.  He  suf- 
fered under  this  pressure  of  the  world's  guilt,  but  He 
174 


APPEARANCE  OF  JESUS  IN  ISRAEL 

could  only  shake  it  off  by  renoiinciug  us  inwardly. 
Our  guilt  was  His  guilt.  He  carried  this  complicity 
with  us  in  His  flesh  and  blood,  because  He  \vr^  and  is 
of  our  flesh  and  blood.  He  desired  nothing  more  ar- 
dently than  forgiveness — forgiveness  for  us  all.  There- 
fore, He  humbled  Himself  and  confessed,  not  His  own 
guilt,  and  yet  that  which  was  His  guilt  by  His  com- 
plicity in  our  humanity.  He  suffered  Himself  to  be 
baptized  like  one  who  has  nothing,  nothing  at  all,  in 
which  to  be  preferred  above  us,  save  that  He  suffered 
where  the  least  of  us  feels  the  pressure  of  guilt  which 
rests  on  us.  He  humbles  Himself,  John  baptizes  Him, 
and  thereby  symbolizes  and  warrants  to  Him  that  for 
w^hich  John  waits,  in  hope  that  Jesus  should  not  only 
live  to  see  the  redemption  as  the  first-born  from  the 
dead,  but  that  He  should  bring  it  about  by  death  and 
resurredlion.  The  water  of  Jordan  which  he  pours 
over  His  head  is  a  symbol  of  the  blood  which  Jesus 
shall  shed,  and  so  that  other,  the  baptism  with  which 
He  must  be  baptized  and  the  cup  which  Jcsua  must 
drink  are  afterward  also  mentioned  together  by  Jesus, 
and  the  apostle  John  speaks  of  water  and  blood,  which 
together  attest  to  us  the  reality  and  truth  of  Jesus' 
Messiahship.  But  when  John  baptizes  Him,  the 
Father  seals  what  John  symbolizes.  He  answers  the 
obedience  of  His  Son,  and  wdth  the  symbol  the  Word 
of  the  Father  and  the  reality  of  His  Spirit  unite. 
God,  by  this  vSign,  is  now  to  remain  forever  with  Him, 
not  merely  as  hitherto  He  has  visited  His  servants, 
enduing  them  for  their  special  task  and  for  a  short 
time.  Jesus,  who  was  and  is  eternally  like  God,  but 
man    and  our  brother,  and  on  this  account  like  us, 

175 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

has  until  nov/  lacked  the  grace  of  God  and  the  help 
of  God  and  of  His  Spirit ;  but  now  He  is  prepared  for 
the  way  which  lies  before  Him. 

In  the  power  of  the  Spirit,  in  the  power  of  the  con- 
sciousness that  the  Father  is  with  Him  in  all  things 
which  He  will  do,  He  can  now  accomplish  every- 
thing which  belongs  to  His  calling,  and  can  re- 
ceive everything  that  He  asks  or  needs.  He  is  led 
only  by  the  spirit  of  His  vocation,  only  by  the 
Father.  He  sees  and  hears  whatever  He  is  to  do 
and  say,  because  He  attends  to  nothing  else  but  to 
fulfil  His  calling  for  His  brethren.  He  needs  no  reve- 
lations, for  He  knows  at  every  hour  what  to  do 
and  speak  when  He  looks  at  His  brethren  and  at  the 
Father,  when  He  sees  their  disbelief  and  when  He  sees 
their  beHef,  for  He  knows  their  hearts  and  needs  not 
to  be  told  anything.  He  receives  revelations  only 
where  He  needs  the  grace  of  God,  God's  comfort  and 
strengthening,  as  at  those  funcflions  where  He  had  not 
to  deal  with  us.  His  brethren,  e.g.,  the  mount  of  the 
transfiguration  and  in  the  garden  of  Gethsemane. 
Having  been  baptized,  what  has  He  now  to  do  ?  He 
who  in  all  His  surroundings  had  sufficiently  perceived 
that  sin  corrupts  all  men  and  everything  was  prepared 
for  His  task.  The  way  to  the  Baptist  had  been  serious 
enough,  and  the  word  by  which  He  forced  the  Baptist 
to  baptize  Him  affords  to  us  a  profound  insight  into 
the  depths  of  the  workings  of  His  will  toward  the  re- 
solve to  live  and  to  die  wholly  for  the  will  of  the  Father 
and  for  the  salvation  of  the  brethren.  He  knew  His 
life-problem.  That  He  was  called  to  stand  on  the  side 
of  God  and  to  live  for  God's  purposes  among  sinners 

176 


APPEARANCE  OF  JESUvS  IN  ISRAEL 


could  not  have  remained  hidden  from  Ilini  in  the 
thirty  3'ears'  silence  at  Nazareth.  Now,  as  it  seemed, 
the  moment  had  come  to  present  Himself  to  the  world 
as  a  helper  and  Savior.  The  moment  vSeemed  favor- 
able. Thus  far  nothing  more  had  taken  place  than  the 
declaration  of  the  Baptist.  This,  however,  had  pre- 
pared the  people  to  receive  the  Messiah  exultantly  if 
He  only  came.  Forgiveness  of  sins,  and  in  its  power 
freedom  from  all  distress  ;  deliverance  from  their  ene- 
mies, the  Romans  ;  liberty  from  all  misery — who  is 
there  that  has  not  desired  all  this?  That  Jesus  did  not 
share  the  so-called  Messianic  ideal,  or  the  Messianic 
ideas  of  the  people,  was  a  matter  of  course  for  Him 
who  suffered  more  under  the  pressure  of  sin  than 
those  who  committed  it.  But  there  were  others,  par- 
ticularly among  those  who  had  come  to  John,  who  also 
did  not  share  this  view.  According  to  them,  the  Mes- 
sianic help  was  to  consist  in  the  abolition  of  all  op- 
pression. They  wanted  forgiveness  only  because  they 
were  in  oppression.  Neither  was  Jesus  nor  were  they 
of  the  opinion  that  their  oppressed  condition  is  to  be 
blamed  for  all  sins.  On  the  contrary,  Jesus  was  no 
social  democrat,  nor  were  these  Israelites  such.  Yet 
it  made  a  difference  whether  the  grace  of  God  is  sought 
for  the  forgiveness  it  brings  or  for  deliverance.  Jesus 
is  here  in  behalf  of  people  who  feel  and  think  as  He 
feels  and  thinks.  Was  not  now  the  time  to  appear  be- 
fore them  and  to  manifest  Himself  to  the  people,  in 
order  to  cure  them  at  the  same  time  from  the  error  of 
their  thoughts  and  from  their  false  Messianic  ideas  ? 

But  the  spirit  of  His  calling  direcfled  Him  not  to 
men,  but  into  the  desert  far  away  from  men.     It  was 

177 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

not  an  unconscious,  obscure  impulse  which  He  followed; 
but  with  a  clear  consciousness,  filled  with  the  convic5lion 
of  the  task  He  was  to  do,  He  saw  that  first  and  nearest 
to  Him  a  hard  struggle  impended.  It  was  not  a  strug- 
gle with  His  own  wish  and  will,  with  His  own  heart ; 
He  was  and  remained  at  one  with  the  Father's  will, 
and  never  resigned  Himself  to  illusions  concerning 
His  task  and  duty.  Still  less  had  He  to  struggle  in- 
wardly with  the  thoughts  and  notions  of  men  ;  about 
this  He  w^as  clear,  even  when  He  bowed  under  the 
hand  of  the  Baptist.  It  was  the  struggle  with  Satan 
which  was  before  Him,  and  which  had  to  be  fought 
out  first  before  He  could  teach  the  people.  It  was  a 
struggle  with  the  enemy  of  God  and  men,  w^hose 
world-dominion  had  to  be  broken.  Fasting  and  pray- 
ing He  spends  His  time,  for  it  is  only  in  the  unbroken 
communion  with  the  Father,  maintained  with  all  earnest- 
ness, that  Satan  can  be  overcome.  At  last  the  strug- 
gle begins.  He  was  hungry  ;  now  Satan  has  found  an 
opportunity  to  approach  Him  temptingly:  *'If  Thou 
art  the  Son  of  God,  in  the  grace  of  God  as  the  chosen 
Messiah,  at  whose  command  everything  is,  then  com- 
mand that  these  stones  become  bread  !  "  Of  the  stones 
God  was  to  raise  up  children  unto  Abraham — why 
should  the  Son  of  God  not  be  able  to  supply  Himself 
with  bread  out  of  the  stones  ?  And  whom  should  He 
wrong  thereby?  Not  those  who  afterward  mocked 
Him  on  the  cross  :  '  *  He  saved  others.  Himself  He  can 
not  save."  But  not  thus  can  He  fulfil  His  calling. 
With  a  few  loaves  He  could  miraculously  feed  thou- 
sands, as  He  afterward  repeatedly  showed.  Here,  how- 
ever, He  would  have  used  His  wondrous  power,  not  for 

178 


APPEARANCE  OF  JESUS  IN  ISRAEL 

others,  but  for  His  own  benefit.  He,  who  desired 
nothing  other  than  to  be  obedient  to  the  Father's  will, 
to  bind  men  again  to  the  Father ;  He,  who  wished 
only  to  exist  for  men,  to  live  for  them,  to  work  for 
them,  in  order  to  fulfil  the  Father's  will,  would  have 
receded  in  the  very  beginning  from  God's  way,  would 
have  cared  for  Himself,  would  have  declined  the  sacri- 
fices and  sufferings  which  His  way  and  calling  required 
of  Him.  He  dared  not.  His  way  was  pointed  out  to 
Him  with  and  by  His  calling.  He  must  entirely  rely 
on  the  Father.  He  answered  Satan  :  "  It  is  written  : 
Man  shall  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word 
that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God." 

As  Son  of  the  Father,  having  thus  refused  this  de- 
mand. He  is  now  in  spirit  taken  along  by  Satan  and 
set  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple  on  His  Father's 
house,  where  He  is  shown  the  people — the  multitudes 
waiting  in  the  forecourts  for  the  blessing  and  long- 
ing for  salvation,  or  those  who  have  come  to  visit  the 
temple.  Satan  reminds  Jesus,  w^ho  had  confuted  Him 
with  the  Word  of  God,  of  the  Scripture  which  says : 
**  He  shall  give  His  angels  charge  concerning  thee,  and 
in  their  hands  they  shall  bear  thee  up,  lest  haply  thou 
dash  thy  foot  against  a  stone. ' '  This  might,  indeed,  ap- 
pear to  be  so  to  him  who  only  asked  after  God's  Word 
and  will.  There  in  Psalm  xci  we  read,  indeed  :  '*  To 
keep  thee  in  all  thy  ways. ' '  Was  this  not  the  w^ay  which 
He  had  to  go,  was  obliged  to  go,  away  to  the  people 
who,  as  He  knew,  now  waited  here  for  the  deed  of  God 
which  was  to  bring  deliverance?  Jesus  had,  indeed, 
the  power  to  summon  God's  angels  to  His  service  ; 
He  Himself  said  it  afterward  when,  in  the  night  of 

17i> 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

His  sufferings,  Peter  meant  to  defend  Him  with  the 
sword  :  ' '  Thinkest  thou  that  I  can  not  beseech  my 
Father,  and  He  shall  even  now  send  Me  more  than 
twelve  legions  of  angels  ?  ' '  But  neither  now  nor 
then  is  the  time  which  shall  afterward  come  v/hen  He 
shall  appear  in  His  glor}^,  and  all  the  angels  with  Him. 
It  is  not  the  Father  who  show^s  Him  this  way.  The 
Father  was  silent,  and  Jesus  knew  that  He  had  not 
come  to  use  force,  w^ere  it  even  to  be  manifested  as  the 
power  of  the  sight  of  His  Divine  Majesty.  He  knew 
that  His  way  was  a  different  one,  that  He  had  to 
suffer  and  endure  whatever  the  renunciation  of  His 
heavenly  glory  demanded.  He  refused  the  temptation 
with  the  Word  :  "Again  it  is  written,  thou  shalt  not 
tempt  the  I^ord  thy  God. ' '  Beyond  that  Word,  let  the 
way  be  ever  so  difficult.  He  can  not  go. 

Now,  Satan  shows  Him  from  an  exceedingly  high 
mountain  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  and  the  glory 
of  them.  This  world  Jesus  seeks  to  win — for  it  and 
in  it  He  will  live,  He  wall  work,  He  will  show  His 
power ;  it  is  to  be  His  that  it  may  have  peace. 
Jesus  is  to  have  it,  provided  He  falls  down  and 
worships  him  (Satan).  Every  man  has  his  price  ; 
the  higher  he  stands,  the  greater  is  the  price  for 
which  he  can  be  had.  Jesus — thus  thinks  Satan — is 
to  be  had  for  the  price  of  the  whole  world,  since  here 
is  a  simple,  safe  way  to  obtain  it.  One  needs  only  to 
renounce  God  and  give  the  honor  to  him  who  has  the 
dominion  in  the  world.  One  needs  only  to  leave  be- 
hind him  God,  the  fear  of  God,  and  faith  in  God.  On 
the  other  hand,  one  must  resolutely  resign  himself  to 
persecution  to  the  utmost,  even  unto  death.     To  be 

180 


APPEARANCE  OF  JESUwS  IN  ISRAEIv 

sure,  JCvSUS  was  already  decided.  Rather  renounce 
everything  and  bhndly  trust  in  the  Father  and  go  God's 
ways — this  was  the  answer  which  He  had  thus  far 
given.  For  Satan  nothing  more  was  left  than  to  step 
forth  openly,  to  demand  and  offer,  eventho  in  the  real- 
ization of  his  defeat.  But  for  Jesus  nothing  else  was 
left  for  Him  but  to  put  up  also  with  this  most  revolting 
of  all  demands,  this  buffet  in  the  face,  for  the  sake  of 
men  who  a  thousand  times  follow  such  demands, 
whom  He  meant  not  to  destroy  but  to  save.  They 
would  not  understand  Him.  But  what  would  happen 
if,  in  His  wrath.  He  should  trample  Satan  under  His 
feet?  His  wrath  would  reach  farther,  and  devour 
every  one  who,  for  the  sake  of  gaining  the  world,  has 
abandoned  the  living  God.  He  dare  not  a(5l.  He  dare 
not  rebel,  He  dare  not  rely  upon  His  Divine  endow- 
ment of  power.  He  can  only  rely  upon  His  present 
task,  and  this  is  prescribed  to  Him  :  "  Thou  shalt  wor- 
ship the  lyord  thy  God,  and  Him  only  shalt  thou 
serve. ' '  Faith  and  obedience :  these  are  the  only 
weapons  which  are  at  the  command  of  Him  who  be- 
came man — a  sign  again  that  the  incarnation  is  the 
humiliation  of  Him  to  whom  as  God  and  Lord  every- 
thing belongs,  and  who  as  God  and  Eord  can  do  every- 
thing. It  will  and  must  come  to  this,  that  the  king- 
doms of  the  world  are  become  the  Kingdom  of  our 
Lord  and  of  His  Christ.  They  already  are  His,  and 
He  would  destroy  them  if  He  had  only  come  to  a(5t 
consistently  with  the  world.  But  for  this  He  had  not 
come.  He  came  to  save  the  sinful  and,  therefore,  lost 
world — His  world.  The  way  to  this  goal  can  only  be 
a  way  of  suffering.     Jesus  will  and  must  .suffer  all,  as 

ISI 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

He  Himself  also  says  at  the  end  of  His  way  :  ' '  This 
is  your  hour,  and  the  power  of  darkness." 

The  vidlory  is  obtained.  Jesus  has  not  had  to  battle 
with  images  of  His  own  heart,  or  even  merely  of  His 
imagination — as  if  mind-pidlures  did  not  come  out  of 
the  heart !  Still  less  has  He  had  to  fight  with  the 
imagination  of  that  which  the  world  offered  to  Him 
and  pressed  upon  Him  ;  for  He  was  in  the  wilderness, 
and  what  He  was  to  do  in  the  world  He  had  agreed  upon 
long  ago  with  the  Father.  The  Father  had  accepted 
His  vow  and  had  given  Him  a  promise,  which  went 
far  beyond  all  the  power  of  the  world.  Jesus  had  to 
fight  with  the  power  which  stands  invisibly  but  really 
behind  the  world,  and  keeps  fast  hold  upon  it,  and  drives 
it  from  sin  to  sin.  Jesus  has  conquered,  and  now  re- 
turns from  the  wilderness  to  the  world,  of  which  He 
now  knows  quite  certainly  what  reception  it  will  pre- 
pare for  Him — not  with  the  joy  of  vi(5lory,  but  with 
the  seriousness  of  death. 

He  can  not  come  with  a  great  show  of  power.  He 
can  not  lay  claim  with  force  and  might  to  His  right 
to  sit  upon  the  throne  of  David  and  to  rule  over 
Israel,  and  thence  over  the  kingdom  of  the  world,  be- 
cause with  force  and  might  sin  can  not  be  overcome, 
it  can  only  be  condemned.  The  time  should  come, 
indeed,  as  symbolically  it  had  often  already  occurred 
in  Israel's  history,  that  judgment  will  begin  at  the 
house  of  God.  But  this  will  only  be  when  it  has  been 
determined  whether  the  world  will  be  helped  by  Jesus. 
But  for  the  time  being  it  remains,  as  Jesus  often  de- 
clared, that  the  Father  has  sent  the  Son,  not  to  judge 
the  world,  but  to  save  it ;  that  He  did  not  come  to 

182 


APPEARANCE  OF  JESUS  IN  ISRAEL 

destroy  the  souls  of  men,  but  to  redeem  them.  On 
this  account  He  must  endure  all  things.  There  is  no 
more  difficult  work  than  to  redeem  sinners  from  their 
sins  and  guilt.  The  spiritual  preparation  which  He 
received  at  His  baptism  in  Jordan  has  given  Him 
everything  which  He  needs  for  His  calling — strength 
to  work  and  strength  to  suffer — and  in  this  strength 
He  goes  His  waj- ,  the  way  w^hicli  He  needs  must  go. 
He  has  the  Father,  to  whom  He  belongs  forever,  even 
now  belongs,  altho  He  has  renounced  His  equality 
with  God;  this  is  all  He  has,  yet,  having  it,  He  has 
enough. 

He  returns  to  the  place  where  John  baptized,  and 
finds  at  first  no  one.  But  on  the  following  day  He 
finds  two  disciples,  and  by  and  by  four  others.  He 
finds  them  by  showing  Himself  to  them  as  the  One 
who  knows  their  sin  and  the  burden  resting  on  them, 
and,  in  His  joy  over  these  few,  He  promises  them  that 
they  shall  see  greater  things  issuing  from  the  com- 
munion between  the  Father  and  Himself  that  shall 
give  them  confidence  as  to  the  fulfilling  of  all  the 
promises  of  God.  They  can,  therefore,  be  composed 
when  He  does  not  meet  every  injustice  with  force  and 
destroy  it.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  great  as  was  the 
confidence  which  He  had  Himself  and  with  which  Pie 
tried  to  imbue  His  disciples.  He  never  resigned  Himself 
to  illusions.  From  the  beginning  His  task  lies  clearly 
before  Him.  He  will  not  first  revert  all  the  misery  and 
remove  all  the  outward  oppression  and  violence  from 
His  people,  as  if  thereby  sin  also  would  cease.  The 
word  in  the  song  of  Zacharias  is  not  thus  to  be  under- 
stood:  "  That  we  being  delivered  out  of  the  hand  of 

183 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIAKn  Y 

our  enemies,  should  serve  Him  without  fear  all  our 
days."  The  closing  words  of  this  song  show  that 
forgiveness  of  sins  is  the  main  condition  of  every 
amelioration  of  the  outward  condition,  and  that  in 
this  consists  the  knowledge  of  salvation.  Jesus  knows 
that  He  has  to  deal  w4th  sin,  and  not  only  indeed  with 
the  sin  which  oppresses,  but  first  with  the  sin  of  the 
oppressed  themselves.  It  is  this  idea  to  which  He 
unreservedly  gives  expression  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
•  Mount,  and  in  the  light  of  this  idea  we  see  why  He 
closes  with  the  woe  upon  those  who  only  say  to  Him  : 
"  Eord,  Lord,"  but  do  not  the  will  of  His  Father.  In 
this  struggle  certainly  He  dreams  not  of  speedy  vic- 
tories. This  He  can  not  do,  because  as  no  other  He 
knows  the  power  of  sin.  Because  He  never  experi- 
enced it  in  Himself,  He  has  seen  the  more  plainly  how 
it  destroys  everything.  This  one  must  keep  in  view  if 
he  wishes  to  understand  Christ's  way.  Savior  of  sin- 
ners He  is  to  be  and  must  be— it  is  this  certainty  that 
showed  Him  His  way,  and  prepared  for  Him  His 
destiny,  and  therefore  He  was  clear  from  the  beginning 
about  that  which  awaited  Him. 

As  we  have  already  stated.  He  proclaimed  the  Gos- 
pel of  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  spoke  of  the  Father, 
to  whom  the  people  so  often  and  so  ardently  prayed 
for  deliverance.  How  could  He  depend  upon  inspir- 
ing faith  in  His  words  about  this  Kingdom  having 
come  near,  and  about  the  mercy  of  the  Father  who 
has  risen  to  deliver  His  people  ?  For  where  was  the 
Kingdom  of  God's  dominion  when  the  rule  of  the 
mighty,  of  the  men  in  seats  of  power,  of  the  oppressors, 
had  not  been  broken,  when  everything  remained  as  it 

184 


APPEARANCE  OF  JESUS  IN  ISRAEL 

was?  By  what  means  could  the  truth  of  His  predic- 
tion be  known  ?  That  He  was  right  in  every  word 
which  He  spoke  against  sin  and  against  sinners — 
not  only  against  the  sin  of  the  oppressors,  but  also 
against  the  sin  of  the  oppressed — this  every  one  might 
concede  if  he  would.  That  He  rigidly  reje(fted  sin  ; 
that  He  struck  at  and  condemned  it  in  its  innermost, 
finest  form,  was,  first  of  all,  the  warrant  for  His  ap- 
pearance as  a  successor  of  the  Baptist.  But  that  with 
this  rigid  judgment  He  announced,  nevertheless,  the 
fulfilment  of  all  promises  of  God,  and  set  forth  the  in- 
scrutable mercy  of  God — this  legitimated  the  Word 
through  a  wondrous  union  of  judgment  and  mercy 
which  first  of  all  appeared  like  a  promise.  So  had  it 
always  been  in  Israel.  The  promise  had  always  been 
legitimated  by  the  judgment.  Whoever  believed  the 
promise  only  did  so  by  subjedling  himself  at  the  same 
time  to  the  judgment  which  was  exercised  by  the  same 
God  in  whom  the  people  put  its  hope.  To  this  was  now 
added  a  third  facft:  that  Jesus  spoke  no  more  of  another 
one,  of  a  mightier,  who  was  to  come  after  Him,  but  of 
Himself,  whose  office  it  was  to  bring  everything,  to 
give  everything,  and  to  realize  the  whole  plan  of  God. 
His  mission  no  more  concerned  the  promise  and  the 
future.  It  concerned  the  present,  and  the  future  only 
so  far  as  He,  the  presence  which  He  brought,  had  in 
Himself  the  promise  of  the  future.  And  that  this  was 
truth  could  be  perceived  from  the  very  seriousness 
with  which  He  spoke  of  judgment,  and  forced  every 
one  who  believed  Him  to  execute  judgment  on 
himself  ere  the  great  hour  of  judgment  came  over 
the  whole  world.     That  His  miraculous  adlivity  was 

185 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

to  support  this  belief,  but  that  it  remained  fruitless, 
we  shall  see  afterward. 

It  was  nothing  new  what  Jesus  demanded  when 
with  His  words  and  His  silences  He  urged  the  hearers 
to  use  all  seriousness  in  betaking  themselves  to  their 
self-judgment.  It  was  also  nothing  new  which  He 
demanded  when  He  deepened  the  requirements  of  the 
law,  as  some  one  has  said.  This  deepening  was  not 
new,  indeed,  but  only  inconvenient  to  the  exadl  per- 
formers of  religion.  Nor  was  the  Father's  name  of 
God  new,  tho  it  has  never  been  so  strongly,  so  ener- 
getically used  as  now.  That  which  was  new  was  the 
fulfilment  of  the  promise,  the  presence  of  God,  who 
now  exercises  His  dominion,  the  presence  of  Jesus, 
the  words  about  Himself — the  word:  "It  is  I." 
This  was,  indeed,  the  greatest  word  which  could  be 
said,  which  no  one  but  Jesus  ever  could  dare  to  say — 
a  word  which  He  to-day  yet  repeats  and  confirms 
when  He  speaks  to  us.  Therefore  said  Peter,  at  the 
close  of  the  address  in  which  Jesus  had  presented  and 
offered  Himself  as  the  bread  of  life  :  * '  I^ord,  to  whom 
shall  we  go?  Thou  hast  the  word  of  eternal  life." 
Everything  which  men  can  otherwise  devise  and  con- 
trive is,  like  all  the  works  of  their  strength  and  art, 
only  for  the  dust  and  for  death.  What  Jesus  speaks 
is  for  eternity,  for  He  is  present  and  stands  forever  by 
His  word.  The  grace  of  God,  which  lasts  from  eter- 
nity to  eternity,  has  in  Him  entered  into  time,  has 
acquired  the  potency  of  the  present,  and  remains  for- 
ever as  present.  He  speaks  of  Himself  and  offers 
Himself  to  men  :  He  is  the  Gospel. 

True,  His  words  made  a  deep  impression  not  only  on 

186 


APPEARANCE  OF  JKvSUvS  IN  ISRAEL 


a  few,  but  on  the  masses.  Thousands  followed  Ilini, 
and  for  whole  days  stayed  with  Him  that  they  might 
not  lose  a  word  of  that  which  He  said.  This  hap- 
pened not  only  once  or  twice,  but  again  and  again. 
"  And  there  were  gathered  unto  Him  great  multitudes, 
for  he  taught  them  as  one  having  authority  and  not  as 
their  scribes. "  "  And  there  followed  him  great  nmlti- 
tudes."  "  On  that  day  went  Jesus  out  of  the  house, 
and  sat  by  the  seaside.  And  there  were  gathered  unto 
Him  great  multitudes,  so  that  he  entered  into  a  boat, 
and  sat ;  and  all  the  multitude  stood  on  the  beach." 
"  For  the  people  all  hung  upon  him,  listening." 
' '  Never  man  so  spake, ' '  said  the  officers  of  the  chief 
priests  who  were  sent  out  to  take  him.  But  the  eflfecl 
was  little  :  a  few  over  five  hundred,  including  His 
disciples,  and  besides  some  women,  which  ministered 
unto  Him  of  their  substance  ;  these  were  all  of  His  fol- 
lowers !  And  yet  He  had  come  for  the  whole  people 
and  wished  to  satisfy  the  longing  of  the  whole  people. 
How  came  this  about  ?  It  was  a  consequence  of  the 
deep  seriousness  of  the  self -judgment  which  He  asserted 
and  demanded  in  the  power  of  God.  At  all  times  the 
holy  seriousness  of  the  Divine  demands  and  the  dread 
of  the  Divine  judgment  find  a  willing  ear.  Men  also 
rejoice  in  the  loveliness  and  graciousness  of  the  Gospel, 
but  it  does  not  move  the  hearts  so  deeply  as  the  serious- 
ness of  the  demands.  But  when  it  means  to  fake  things 
seriously  and  to  believe^  when  men  are  about  to  be  put 
into  the  possession  of  grace,  then  they  withdraw.  For 
melancholy  and  sad  as  it  may  sound,  it  is  nevertheless 
true  :  Men  love  darkness,  the  soreness  of  their  hurt, 
the  lost  estate  in  which  they  are,    more   than   light 

187 


THK  KSSENCK  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

and  healing  and  restoration — they  love  death  more 
than  life.  This  would  be  inconceivable  if  it  were  not 
still  the  same  to-day.  On  this  account  the  people  do 
not  make  their  decision  for  Him.  Jesus  has  to  take 
from  them  the  benefit  of  His  free  speech  about  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  the  goal  of  all  their  hope.  He  speaks 
clearly  only  to  the  disciples  of  the  manner  in  which 
the  Kingdom  of  God  exists  in  secrecy,  and  is  sought  by 
some  and  found  by  others.  It  is  truly  the  Kingdom 
of  God  which  shall  some  day  fill  the  world  when  judg- 
ment has  been  held  ;  and  from  this  Kingdom  all  offend- 
ers and  all  evil-doers  must  be  cast  out.  We  can  under- 
stand how  to  the  disciples  this  prophecy  could  become 
clear  because  of  that  which  they  had  in  Jesus  and 
which  no  one  else  believed,  while  at  the  same  time 
these  speeches  made  the  darkness  still  darker  for  others. 
It  is  true,  then,  that  there  is  a  judgment  which  even 
the  most  faithful  love  can  not  avert ! 

To  the  end  the  people  remained  in  their  indecision. 
Jesus  had  enemies.  He  was  hated  as  fiercely  as  those 
who  as  God's  servants  w^ere  His  types  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. He  w^as  hated  as  never  a  man  was  hated  before 
or  since,  and  this  by  the  leaders  of  the  people,  the 
authorities  of  Israel,  the  representatives  of  the  law — 
the  Pharisees,  scribes,  and  priests.  They  were  called 
to  be  the  first  witnesses  of  the  Messiah,  but  this  they 
were  not.  Jesus,  indeed,  did  not  seek  them,  altho  He 
especially  gave  the  priests  the  honor  due  them  when, 
in  direcfting  to  them  the  lepers  whom  He  had  healed, 
He  instruöled  these  to  show  themselves  to  the  priests 
"for  a  testimony  unto  them."  Jesus  did  not  need 
the  witness  of  the  priests,  for  if  He  was  really  the  Mes- 

188 


APPEARANCE  OF  JEvSUS  IN  ISRAEIy 

siah  He  would  be  known  as  such  by  every  one  who 
wished  to  know.  But  He  had  come  in  a  guise  entirely 
different  from  what  the  priests  expec5led ,  not  at  all  like 
one  who  comes  from  heaven  and  whom  one  knows,  as 
the  astronomers  perceive  a  phenomenon  in  the  sky  and 
know  how  to  estimate  it.  If  His  claim  was  unauthorized, 
then  He  w^as  a  misfortune  to  Israel  through  the  power 
He  had  of  misleading  them.  If  His  claim  was  author- 
ized, His  judgment  established,  His  demands  justified, 
if  He  was  the  gift  of  God  for  His  people,  that  was 
the  end  of  them  and  their  authority  which  they  had 
acquired — an  end  of  the  position  of  the  nobility  of  the 
nation  and  the  privileges  which  they  enjoyed,  the 
rights  of  the  priesthood,  the  domination  of  the  high 
priests.  But  this  they  could  not  bear.  They  had  de- 
cided long  ago  to  kill  Him.  He  shoiild  not  be  the 
Messiah,  He  could  not  be  ;  of  this  they  were  per- 
suaded. But  the  opportunity  had  not  yet  been  found, 
for  even  unto  the  week  of  passion  they  were  afraid  of 
the  people.     At  last,  at  last,  the  opportunity  came. 

As  already  stated,  Jesus  had  never  given  Himself  up 
to  illusions.  He  never  needed  to  exchange  His  vSo- 
called  Messianic  ideal  for  another  more  correspond- 
ent to  the  lower  reality.  He  had  a  truer  reality.  He 
were  not  at  all  the  helper  given  by  God  Himself  to  the 
world  had  He  given  Himself  to  illusions,  had  He  not 
completely  understood  sin,  had  He  not  fully  estimated 
the  cost  from  the  beginning,  had  He  confided  too  much 
in  Himself.  From  the  beginni7ig  He  had  reckotied  with 
the  thought  of  death  :  at  the  cleansing  of  the  temple, 
which  John  narrates,  as  w^ell  as  in  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  and  the  sending  of  the  twelve,    as  Matthew 

189 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

narrates.  True,  He  spoke  openly  and  unreservedly 
only  to  the  disciples  at  Caesarea  Philippi,  and,  from 
that  time  onward,  of  the  necessity  that  He  must  die, 
5^et  even  then  they  did  not  understand  how  it  could 
come  to  this ;  much  less  had  they  understood  the 
earlier  intimations.  John  the  evangelist  specifically 
tells  us  that  the  saying,  * '  Destroy  this  temple,  and  in 
three  days  I  w411  raise  it  up,"  which  had  reference  to 
the  temple  of  His  body,  and  thus  to  death  and  resur- 
recftion,  was  understood  neither  by  the  disciples  nor  by 
the  * '  Jews. ' '  How  could  they  then  understand  what 
Jesus  said  in  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  of  being  re- 
viled and  persecuted  for  the  sake  of  His  name,  or  in 
the  address  in  Matthew,  wdien  sending  out  His  disci- 
ples, of  being  hated  for  the  sake  of  His  name  ?  How 
could  they  understand  what  He  said  of  the  cross, 
under  w^hich  one  should  follow  Him?  That  this 
word  is  not  a  later  interpolation  is  a  matter  of  course 
to  the  reader  who  knows  how  the  Jews,  in  Biblical 
language,  used  to  speak  of  the  cross,  which  since  the 
Roman  rule  began  had  stared  at  them  on  all  roads. 
They  said,  e.g. ,  of  Isaac,  w^hen  he  carried  the  wood  for 
the  sacrifice  on  the  mount :  * '  Isaac  w^as  loaded  with 
the  wood,  like  one  who  carried  his  own  cross  on  his 
shoulder. ' '  Thus  it  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  suppose 
that  Jesus  intended  by  His  words  to  signify  beforehand 
the  manner  of  His  death,  but  He  expresses  thus  the 
facft  that  the  world,  Jews  and  Gentiles,  will  cast  Him 
out  and  deliver  Him  to  death.  Why  should  this  not 
have  been  evident  to  Him  ?  We  can  understand  that 
the  disciples  did  not  comprehend  it,  did  not,  indeed, 
comprehend  it  at  all  before  it  had  come  about,  did  not 
190 


APPEARANCP:  of  JKSUS  in  ISRAEL 

even  then  comprehend  it,  but  abandoned  their  faith. 
But  what  interest  have  we  to  deny  a  fa(5l  which  was 
surprising  even  to  its  narrators,  the  evangelists,  and 
still  just  on  that  account  was  narrated  by  them  ? 

No,  even  the  disciples  were  not  fully  and  forever 
won  for  the  Lord.  Even  they  did  not  wholly  under- 
stand Him  till  He  was  dead  and  risen.  True,  Jesus 
thus  praised  the  Father:  "I  thank  Thee,  O  Father, 
Lord  of  heaven  and  earth,  that  Thou  didst  hide  these 
things  from  the  wise  and  understanding,  and  didst 
reveal  them  unto  babes,"  and  in  accordance  with  this 
He  revealed  unto  them  the  Father  and  the  Father  re- 
vealed unto  them  the  Son.  But  even  in  this  company 
of  the  disciples,  only  a  day  before  the  death  of  Jesus, 
the  petition  is  nevertheless  uttered  :  '  *  Lord ,  show  us 
the  Father,  and  it  sufficeth  us  !  "  To  which  Jesus 
answers:  ''Have  I  been  so  long  time  with  you,  and 
dost  thou  not  know  Me  ?  He  that  hath  seen  Me  hath 
seen  the  Father. "  And  thus  might  they  lay  hold  of 
Him,  and  grasp  and  keep  Him;  and  thus  could  they 
know  everything  and  have  everything — yes,  wholly 
in  Him  and  from  Him.  What,  then,  was  still  neces- 
sary in  order  to  know  Jesus  wholly,  to  have  Him  for- 
ever, and  to  become  through  Him  a  child  of  God  ? 

Should  it  be  the  miracles  ?  But  no,  they  belonged 
to  the  manifestation  of  Jesus,  to  His  Messianic  self- 
attestation.  Only  they  had  no  efife<5l  at  the  time  when 
they  took  place;  whatever  effedl  they  might  work,  they 
have  worked  only  afterward.  Let  us  see  how  they  are 
to  be  understood  and  what  they  mean. 


191 


X 

THE    MIRACLE-MINISTRY    OF    JESUS 


ESUS  Spoke  and  testified  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God  which  had  come  and  was  at  hand,  the 
sum  of  all  blessedness,  and  the  eternal  good 
which  God  promised  before  to  His  own,  pre- 
pared for  them  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  and 
now  at  length  offered.  It  does  not,  indeed,  look  as 
if  all  who  were  in  this  Kingdom  had  peace.  They 
had  still  to  endure  the  world-sorrow  which  others 
have  also  to  bear — yes,  perhaps  they  feel  it  still  more. 
But  they  can  bear  it.  The  Kingdom  which  they  had,  or 
for  which  they  still  waited,  makes  them  strong  to  bear 
it.  How  could  He  prove  this  ?  Jesus  and  the  King- 
dom belonged  together  ;  what  did  He  give  of  the  good 
of  His  Kingdom?  "Thy  sins  are  forgiven."  He 
spoke  to  the  man  sick  of  the  palsy,  and  to  the  great 
sinner.  To  bring  forgiveness — on  this  depended  and 
toward  this  was  aimed  all  His  work.  But  just  this  was 
not  acknowledged.  '*  He  blasphemeth;  who  can  for- 
give sins  but  one,  even  God?"  said  they  who  were 
there  in  the  presence  of  the  man  sick  of  the  palsy, 
the  scribes  and  Pharisees.  By  what  means  did  Jesus 
prove  that  He  can  do  this  ?  For  He  had  to  prove  it ; 
He  was  not  yet  crucified  and  risen. 

All  that  Jesus  spoke,  His  whole  manifest  career, 
was  accompanied  by  miracles,  and,  indeed,  by  such 
miracles  as  had  never  been  in  Israel.     Israel  was  the 

192 


THE  MIRACLK-MINISTRY  OP  JICSUS 

people  who  had,  as  no  other  people,  a  distindl  and 
clear  conception  of  the  closed,  orderly  sequence  of  life 
and  experience  in  nature  and  history  from  which  se- 
quence, by  his  own  strength,  no  man  can  escape,  even 
tho  one  means  to  master  it,  and  to  a  certain  point  really 
does  master  it.  It  is  flatly  wrong  to  affirm  that  Israel 
was  accustomed  at  every  stage  of  its  history  to  experi- 
ence miracles.  The  contrary  rather  is  correct.  Only 
at  decisive  points  of  Israel's  history  have  miracles 
happened,  as  at  the  deliverance  from  Egypt's  bondage 
through  Moses,  at  the  appearance  of  the  two  prophets 
Elijah  and  Elisha  in  the  time  of  Israel's  apostasy,  and 
in  connedlion  with  some  individual  prophets — e.g., 
Isaiah  at  the  time  of  Hezekiah's  sickness.  It  was  be- 
cause miracles  belonged  to  the  great  critical  times  that 
they  expedled  miracles  of  the  Messiah — 3^es,  a  mir- 
acle above  all  miracles — and  were  not  satisfied  with 
what  He  had  already  done,  but  sought  of  Him  a 
sign  from  heaven.  It  was  not,  by  the  very  supposi- 
tion, something  normal  which  they  sought,  and  which 
they  believed  they  could  find  everywhere,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  something  very  extraordinary.  This  miracle, 
however,  Jesus  will  not  perform,  but  instead,  in  the 
most  severe  manner,  he  sends  back  the  sign-seeking 
Pharisees  and  Sadducees.  "An  evil  and  adulterous 
generation  seeketh  after  a  sign ;  and  there  shall  no 
sign  be  given  unto  it,  but  the  sign  of  the  prophet  Jonas. 
And  He  left  them,  and  departed,"  we  read  in  Matthew 
xvi :  4.  And  this  is  charadleristic  of  the  supposed  prim- 
itive view  of  our  evangelists.  Jesus  refuses  this  miracle 
with  the  same  gravity  with  which  He  had  spoken  to 
the  nobleman  who  asked  help  for  his  son  at  the  point 

193 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


of  death:  ''  Except  ye  see  signs  and  wonders,  3'e  will 
in  no  wise  believe,"  and  for  the  same  reason  which  led 
Him  to  forego  a  miracle  at  Nazareth,  His  home:  because 
they  believed  7iot  in  Him.  Otherwise,  however,  He  did 
miracles  not  only  where  they  believed  in  Him,  but 
even  where  they  did  not  yet  believe  in  Him,  and  where 
no  decision  against  Him  had  yet  been  made  or  w^as 
expedled,  so  that,  in  case  men  would  not  believe  His 
words,  they  could  nevertheless  believe  on  account  of 
the  works  which  He  did. 

These  works,  His  miracles,  were  all,  however,  of 
a  special  kind,  like  and  yet  again  unlike  all  the 
miracles  which  had  previously  been  done  in  Israel. 
He  performed  no  miracle  to  prote(5l  Himself  against 
His  enemies,  as  did  Moses  and  Elijah.  Once  only 
did  Jesus  perform  a  judgment-miracle,  and  then  only 
to  typify  how  Israel  will  fare  by  continuing  in  disbe- 
lief. This  was  the  cursing  of  the  fig-tree,  which 
against  its  nature  had  leaves  but  no  fruit,  and  which 
immediately  withered  away  at  Jesus'  word.  Once  it 
might  seem  as  if  Jesus  had  used  His  wondrous  power 
for  Himself,  for  His  own  benefit — namely,  when  He 
rebuked  the  wind  and  the  raging  of  the  water,  and 
there  was  a  calm.  But  He  did  this  not  for  Himself. 
In  the  midst  of  the  raging  of  the  storm  and  sea  He 
was  in  the  stern,  asleep  on  the  cushion;  and  only  when 
the  disciples  awoke  Him,  and  said  unto  Him,  ' '  Master, 
carest  Thou  not  that  we  perish  ?  "  did  He  rebuke  the 
wind  and  the  sea — yet  He  also  rebuked  the  disciples  for 
their  little  faith.  For  as  people  who  believed  in  Jesus 
they  should  have  known  and  considered  that  nothing 
evil  could  befall  them  as  long  as  Jesus  was  with  them. 
194 


THE  MIRACLE-MINISTRY  OF  JESUS 

They  had,  therefore,  not  needed  this  miracle,  which 
Jesus  did  out  of  pure  forbearance  and  mercy  toward 
them. 

The  miracles  which  Jesus  did  were  all  healing  won- 
ders, and  were  not  done  for  the  benefit  of  those  who 
laid  wait  for  Him,  to  find  something  against  Him,  but 
for  the  benefit  of  those  who  came  to  Him,  brought 
their  sick  to  Him,  or  came  in  their  own  distress  to  be 
helped   by   Him.     It   was,    moreover,  not  an  excep- 
tion, as    in  the  case  of   the  Old   Testament  history, 
when    He    did    miracles ;    it   was   rather   an   excep- 
tion,   as   at   Nazareth,  when    He    did    no    miracles. 
Thus  we  may  say  that  the  day  of  His  work  ended 
and  the  night  commenced  only  with  His  seizure   in 
the  garden.     Wherever  He  went  and  stayed  He  did 
miracles,   and  * '  as  many  as  touched  Him  were  made 
whole. ' '     This  had  never  before  happened  in  Israel. 
Therefore,  John  the  Baptist,  when  he  was  in  prison 
and  heard  the  works  of  Christ,  sent  to  Him  and  said 
unto  Him  :  ''  Art  thou  He  that  cometh,  or  look  w^e  for 
another  ? ' '     For  if  any  man  might  expedl  that  the 
Messiah  should  assist  him  and  obtain  for  him,  through 
His  miraculous  power,  his  rights  and  liberty,  and  im- 
prisonment and  death  for  his  enemies,   this  was,   as 
one  would  think,  John  the  Baptist,  the  forerunner  of  the 
Messiah.     Christ's  answer  authenticates  the   univer- 
sality of  His  miracles,  and  proves  that  the  time  of 
f ulfiling  the  prophesy  has  come  :  ' '  The  blind  receive 
their  sight  and  the  lame  walk  ;  the  lepers  are  cleansed 
and  the  deaf  hear,  and  the  dead  are  raised  up,  and  the 
poor  have  good  tidings  preached  to  them. ' '  But  He  does 
not  help  the  Baptist;  he  must  sufi-er  and  die;  and  Christ 

195 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

adds,  ' '  Blessed  is  he  whosoever  shall  find  no  occasion 
of  stumbling  in  Me" — certainly  a  singular  prophecy. 
The  Kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand  :  ''  But  if  I,  by  the 
finger  of  God,  or  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  cast  out  devils, 
then,  without  you  knowing  it,  is  the  Kingdom  of  God 
come  upon  you."  The  Kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand, 
and  those  who  should  enjoy  it  first  profit  nothing  and 
gain  nothing  by  it.  How  is  that  ?  How  issues  and  what 
means  this  double  form  of  miracles,  and  w^hat  is  their 
difference  from  all  former  miracles  which  have  been 
wrought  ?  Miracles  are  wonderful  works,  events  pro- 
duced by  mediate  causes  undiscernible  by  us  or  not 
existing  for  us — thus  they  have  been  defined.  Are 
these  of  Jesus  really  different  from  the  Old  Testament 
miracles  ? 

What  are  miracles  ?  This  is  the  first  question.  Is 
it  really  enough  to  say,  according  to  the  time-worn  ob- 
jecftion  to  miracles,  as  well  as  the  newest  explanation 
of  Harnack,  that  they  are  phenomena  or  effe(5ls  which 
are  not  to  be  explained  from  the  known,  unbroken  order 
of  nature  and  history  ?  This  only  means  ' '  Accord- 
ing to  the  unbroken  order  known  to  us" — i.e.,  the 
unbroken  order  known  at  the  time  when  the  phenom- 
ena took  place.  Certain  miracles  which  are  abso- 
lutely not  to  be  explained — as  the  stilling  of  the  storm 
on  the  sea — are  roundly  and  emphatically  denied. 
"That  a  storm  on  the  sea  has  been  stilled  by  a  word," 
says  Harnack,  ''we  do  not  believe  and  will  never 
again  believe. ' '  But  the  healing  miracles,  so  far  as 
their  historicity  is  conceded,  are  regarded  as  miracles — 
I.e.,  as  influences  of  a  firm  will  and  a  convinced  faith 
even  upon  the  bodily  life  which  *  *  interest  us  like  mira- 

196 


THE  MIRACI.E-MINISTRY  OF  JESUS 

cles. ' '  Harnack  says  :  ' '  Surely  miracles  do  not  happen, 
but  there  is  much  that  is  miraculous  and  inexplica- 
ble." *'  We  are  not  locked  up  in  a  blind  and  brutal 
course  of  nature,  but  .  .  .  nature  serves  higher  pur- 
poses, and  one  may  so  come  up  against  it  by  an  inner 
Divine  power  that  all  things  shall  work  together  for 
good. ' '  This  *  *  coming  up  against  nature  ' '  yields 
us  * '  experiences' '  which  are  ever  felt  *  *  as  miracles, ' ' 
and  these  experiences  are  inseparable  from  every 
"higher  religion,"  and,  indeed,  are  experiences  for 
the  life  of  the  individual  as  well  as  the  great  course  of 
the  history  of  humanity.  "How  clean  and  clear," 
Harnack  ironically  continues,  "must  be  the  think- 
ing of  a  religious  man  who,  while  he  himself  is  able 
to  adhere  to  the  knowledge  of  the  inviolability  of  the 
limited  course  of  events,  nevertheless  can  be  surprised 
that  even  great  minds  are  not  able  clearly  to  separate 
these  realms. ' ' 

But  all  this  would  only  or  chiefly  cover  effedls  of 
faith  or  of  the  firm  wall  upon  events  that  happen  to 
one's  own  person.  It  is  remarkable,  however,  that 
all '  the  Biblical  miracle  accounts,  and  more  especially 
those  of  the  New  Testament,  refer,  not  to  effecfls  of 
miracle-workers  on  their  own  persons,  but  to  effe(5ls 
on  others.  From  beginning  to  end  Christ  refuses 
to  perform  miracles  for  His  own  benefit,  especially  for 
the  preservation  of  His  own  life.  As  related  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians,  Paul  waits  not  for  a 
miracle  by  which  he  should  be  helped;  and  when  at 
Mehtta  he  is  bitten  by  a  viper  without  being  hurt, 
the  miracle  happens  not  for  his  sake,  but  for  those 
who  saw  it.    Christ  does  not  provide  for  His  own  food 

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THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


by  a  miracle,  as  God  once  cared  for  Elijah  through 
the  ravens,  and  as  Elijah  himself  provided  the  oil  in 
the  cruse  and  the  meal  in  the  barrel  of  the  widow  at 
Zarephath.  Christ's  miracles  are  throughout  efFecfls 
on  others  and  for  others.  Are  these  to  be  explained 
by  the  phrase  * '  The  influence  of  a  firm  will  and  con- 
vinced faith,"  even  upon  the  bodily  life?  Perhaps 
they  might  be  explained  as  instances  of  hypnosis  or 
suggestion?  Then  they  would  at  once  cease  to  be 
real  miracles,  and  from  that  hour  on  they  could  no 
more  claim  religious  importance  where  their  nature 
should  be  known.  They  appear,  then,  in  the  light  of 
delusion  from  religious  motives  and  for  reHgious  ob- 
jedls.  If  this  imposture  should  not  be  ascribed  to 
the  apostles  and  evangelists,  in  so  far  as  they  have 
been  themselves  deceived,  should  it  be  charged,-  never- 
theless, upon  Jesus  ?  Or  if  these  miracles  have  not  been 
produced  by  hypnosis  or  suggestion,  but  by  a  real  in- 
fluence of  strong  will  and  convidlion,  has  the  historian 
elsewhere  in  history  perceived  such  influences,  save 
in  the  tales  and  legends  of  the  middle  ages?  But 
when  with  Harnack  one  still  allows  ' '  something  impen- 
etrable ' '  in  the  accounts  of  the  miracles,  which  may 
possibly  become  comprehensible  to  future  generations, 
and  the  paradox  of  which  is  entirely  to  disappear,  one 
will  be  obliged  to  say  that  a  weaker  argument  against 
the  miracles  has  hardly  ever  come  to  light.  It  would 
have  been  more  intelligible  to  acknowledge  the  ' '  im- 
penetrability ' '  of  all  the  accounts  and  to  deny  their 
truth  than  to  make  this  unhappy  effort  at  an  explana- 
tion of  their  origin,  for  this  comes  to  the  same  thing. 
Neither  is  this  effort  to  acknowledge  miracles  with- 

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THE  MIRACI.E-MINISTRY  OF  JESUS 

out  allowing  them  to  be  miracles  justified  by  citing  the 
* '  certain  contempt ' '  with  which  Jesus  Himself  is  said 
to  speak  of  His  miracles.  We  have  rather  to  put 
together  the  fa(5ls:  that  Jesus  reproaches  the  nobleman, 
"Except  ye  see  signs  and  wonders,  ye  will  in  no  wise 
believe,"  that  He  refers  the  Baptist  in  the  prison  to 
the  wonders  which  happen,  and  that  He  says  to  the 
Jews,  "Tho  ye  believe  not  Me,  believe  the  works 
which  I  do  in  My  Father's  name."  According  to 
this,  miracles  must  belong  to  the  person  and  office  of 
Jesus  the  Messiah.  But  the  question  is.  How  ?  Mir- 
acles, and  this  is  the  point,  were  not  common  in  Israel. 
On  heathenish  territory  miracles  never  were  wrought 
by  Jesus,  and  He  refuses  to  do  a  miracle  on  the 
daughter  of  the  Syrophenician  woman.  Only  after 
the  mother  had  humbled  herself  still  deeper,  as  once 
Naaman,  the  captain  of  the  King  of  Syria,  had  done, 
does  He  help  in  an  exceptional  way.  For  the  woman 
has  shown  faith,  great  faith.  He  heals  the  servant  of 
the  centurion  at  Capernaum,  but  on  Jewish  soil  and  at 
the  intercession  of  the  Jews.  There  must  in  every 
case  be  included  all  the  special  features  by  which  the 
peculiarity  of  all  miracles,  as  well  as  the  distindl 
peculiarit}^  of  Christ's  miracles,  is  marked.  These  fea- 
tures are  the  more  important,  since  they  are  not  to  be 
accounted  for  as  a  tradition  knowingly  set  forth  as 
such,  but  are  inextricably  interwoven  with  the  facfts 
themselves. 

One  thing,  however,  is  possible  —  namely,  that  the 
miracle  accounts  were  the  expression  of  a  belief  in  the 
hearing  of  prayer.  Israel,  as  we  have  stated,  had  the 
strong  consciousness  of  a  firmly  closed  connedlion  of 

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THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

cat^e  and  effedl  in  nature  and  history.  For  this  very- 
reason  the  pious  clung  to  the  God  who  had  chosen  them, 
that  they  should  not  be  ground  by  this  inexorable  order; 
and  they  were  heard  when  they  prayed,  or  thought 
they  were  heard.  What  they  then  experienced  in  this 
manner  in  connecftion  with  their  life  of  prayer,  diredled 
to  God  and  drawing  from  God,  w^as  in  the  narrative 
developed  by  their  shaping  fancy  into  miracle.  Is  this 
so  ?  No,  not  if  there  is  hearing  of  prayer  !  If  there 
is  not,  then  indeed  we  shall  have  still  less  miracle,  for 
it  would  follow  that  there  is  no  God  at  all  who  adls 
freely  and  demands  free  faith  on  the  part  of  men, 
and  what  we  call  faith  would  remain  either  merely  a 
compliance  with  God's  hidden  ways,  or  a  contented 
and  happy  confidence  in  God's  wisdom  which  has 
ordered  everything  from  eternity,  with  a  convidlion 
that  not  the  brutal  world-order  but  God's  wisdom 
triumphs.  For  a  free  ac5lion  of  God,  and  especially 
for  an  a6lion  of  that  God  whom  we  can  induce  with 
our  prayers,  there  is  no  room.  But  so  long  as  prayer 
is  an  indispensable  expression  of  our  religious  life,  and 
daily  hearing  of  prayer  is  believed  and  experienced  by 
us,  so  long  do  we  also  distinguish  between  hearing  of 
prayer  and  miracle.  It  is  not  that  hearing  of  prayer 
is  a  miracle  which  has  happened  in  consequence  of  our 
praying.  The  true  miracle  originates  from  Divine 
initiative.  For  miracles,  too,  and  especially  the  mira- 
cles of  Jesus,  are  a  hearing  of  prayer.  But  tho,  indeed, 
miracles  are  hearings  of  prayer,  still  it  is  not  the  nature 
of  the  hearing  of  prayer  to  be  a  miracle — at  least,  so 
long  as  we  do  not,  with  Harnack,  decide  to  regard  every 
influence  of  freedom  upon  the  forced  order  of  nature 

200 


THE  MIRACLE-MINISTRY  OF  JESUwS 

and  history  as  a  paradox  and  therefore  as  a  miracle. 
The  Lord  refers  His  believers  to  the  hearing  of  prayer, 
which  they  are  to  experience  daily,  but  not  to  miracles. 
Hearing  of  prayer  is  the  daily  orderly  experience  of 
His  children  ;  miracles  are  not  daily,  are  also  vsome- 
thing  extraordinary  for  the  children  of  the  house  of 
God.  The  hearing  of  prayer  belongs  to  that  govern- 
ment of  God  in  history  of  which  it  is  said  that  He 
fashions  the  hearts  of  men,  and  even  cares  for  the 
birds  of  the  heaven,  the  flowers  of  the  field,  the  spar- 
rows on  the  roof,  that  not  one  of  them  fall  to  the 
ground  without  His  will.  This  His  disciples  shall 
remember,  and  when  they  are  brought  before  kings 
and  princes  for  judgment  they  shall  not  be  anxious 
how  or  what  they  shall  speak,  for  it  shall  be  given 
them  in  that  hour.  But  such  giving  is  no  miracle,  tho 
it  is  known  and  felt  as  a  gift,  as  an  effect  of  God's  grace. 
Miracles  are,  indeed,  hearing  of  prayer,  but  hearing  of 
that  prayer  which  is  for  miracles.  But  we  do  not  pray 
for  miracles  unless  we  have  to  pray  for  them,  because 
the  distress  of  the  congregation  and  of  God's  witnesses 
against  the  sin  of  the  world  impels  us  to  it.  Jesus 
prayed  for  them,  His  disciples  have  prayed  for  them, 
but  not  arbitrarily  ;  for  a  miracle  is  something  very 
special.  The  miracle  takes  place  through  the  Word 
and  at  the  Word.  When  the  Word  is  spoken  it  comes 
to  pass.  Recovery  from  sickness  which  gradually 
takes  place,  not  at  once  and  completely,  at  the 
Word,  can  be  God's  gift,  a  hearing  of  prayer,  but  it 
is  no  miracle.  Neither  do  miracles  happen  by  way 
of  accelerating  a  process  of  nature.  This  they  ne^'er 
are,  not  even  in  the  turning  of  water  into  wine  at  the 

201 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

marriage  in  Cana,  nor  still  less  in  the  feeding  of  the 
five  thousand,  and  of  the  four  thousand  in  the  wilder- 
ness. Where  a  miracle  takes  place  the  conne(5lion  be- 
tween the  Word  and  the  event  is  always  manifest,  tho 
not  to  them  to  whom  the  Word  is  impotent.  Save 
that  the  greater  part  of  these  beholders  may  feel  the 
need  to  inquire  more  seriously  into  the  relation  of  eff  e(5l 
and  cause,  all  miracles  appear  to  them  to  belong  only 
in  the  mass  of  things  and  events  not  understood  or 
conceivable,  of  which  the  course  of  the  world  is  at  all 
times  full.  On  this  account  Jesus'  miracles  are  mira- 
cles only  for  those  who  followed  Him  either  for  a  time 
or  always.  To  such  they  are  indeed  real.  For  the 
others  they  mean  nothing,  and  thus  we  understand 
why  Jesus  performs  no  miracles  where  He  finds  no 
faith  at  all. 

But  what  are  miracles,  and  what  do  they  denote  ? 
They  only  happen  in  Israel,  among  the  people  chosen 
for  redemption.  They  thus  stand  in  connecflion  with 
this  destiny  of  Israel,  with  redemption  ;  they  are  deeds 
of  that  God  who  will  show  to  His  people  by  good- 
ness and  severity  that  He  alone  is  the  God  of  redemp- 
tion, who  will  not  expose  His  people  to  the  law  of 
sin  and  guilt,  which  is  to  say  to  the  law  of  develop- 
ment, but  will  deliver  them  from  perdition.  Whether 
they  are  miracles  of  judgment  or  miracles  of  grace, 
they  are  always  the  exa6l  contrary  of  what  one  would 
expe(5l  to  occur  in  accordance  with  the  natural  order 
of  things,  in  the  expecSled  place,  and  at  the  ex- 
pedled  time.  They  are  i7itenHo7ially  counter- effetls 
agai7ist  this  natural  order  of  things^  and,  therefore,  de- 
cidedly against  the  orderly  sequence  of  nature  ;  not  in 

202 


THE  MIRACLE-MINISTRY  OF  JESUS 

general,  for  this  general  order  remains  till  the  end 
comes,  but  in  the  special  case,  which  is  thereby  taken 
out  of  the  order  without  injury  to  the  order  itself. 
This  world-order  is  in  a  thousand  cases  a  prevssure,  a 
burden  for  those  who  suffer  thereby,  and  we,  too, 
seek  to  oppose  it — we  by  affedling  other  causes,  God 
with  His  might  and  power  by  abolishing  the  cause. 
The  suffering,  tho  not  always  a  result  of  a  certain 
sin,  stands,  nevertheless,  in  an  indissoluble  conne(5lion 
with  the  sin  of  the  world.  If  there  were  no  sin  and 
suffering,  miracles  had  never  happened.  But  where 
God  intervenes  with  His  revelation,  not  merely  a  com- 
munication about  Himself,  but  with  His  own  pradlical 
proof  of  Himself  to  bring  about  the  redemption  of  the 
sinful  race,  there  we  meet  with  miracles.  Indeed,  not 
everywhere,  not  wherever  men  may  happen  to  think 
that  they  need  one,  but  only  according  to  His  own 
counsel,  only  in  the  harmonious  ordering  of  His  waj-s, 
and  only  in  the  very  remarkable  conditions  of  this 
Divine  order.  In  the  time  of  the  Old  Covenant 
miracles  happen  for  the  purpose  of  judgment  and 
grace,  as  through  Moses  and  Elijah.  With  Christ 
and  through  Him  they  happen  in  connedlion  with  His 
office  as  Redeemer  only  as  miracles  of  help  and  salva- 
tion. They  are  the  infallible  sign  of  the  Redeemer, 
who  came  at  last  and  is  present  with  us.  He  must 
needs  do  wonders ;  it  is  an  exception  when,  as  in 
Nazareth,  He  can  do  no  miracle,  not  as  if  He  had  been 
lacking  in  power,  but  because  men  refused  Him  from 
the  very  outset.  Where  distress  and  misery  come  in 
His  way  He  helps — of  course,  only  when  He  meets 
with  them  on  His  appointed  way,  on  the  ways  of  His 

203 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

calling.  He  does  not  in  the  whole  country  and  with 
one  stroke  turn  all  lamentation  and  all  sorrow  into  joy. 
He  lets  His  forerunner,  John,  suffer ;  He  does  not 
help  him,  who,  humanly  speaking,  had  the  first  claim 
that  the  Messiah  should  show  in  him  His  won- 
drous power,  the  might  of  His  Messiahship.  But 
Jesus  says  :  ' '  Blessed  is  he  whosoever  shall  find  no 
occasion  of  stumbling  in  Me"  ;  therefore,  suffer,  die, 
and  believe  !  In  other  cases,  however,  He  helps,  and, 
indeed,  not  only  where  He  is  asked,  but  also  unso- 
licited, as  at  the  marriage  feast  in  Cana,  in  the  feeding 
of  the  five  thousand  and  four  thousand,  in  the  healing 
of  the  sick  by  the  pool  Bethesda,  and  in  the  healing  of 
the  man  born  blind.  For  His  people  are  to  have  a 
sign  of  the  arrival  of  Him  who  has  the  power  to  help 
the  whole  world.  This  power  is  the  sign  of  the 
Messiah.  On  this  account,  moreover,  the  people  that 
had  witnessed  the  wondrous  feeding  of  the  multitude 
wanted  to  seize  Him  and  make  Him  King,  as  if  men 
had  to  make  Him  King  whom  God  has  chosen  as  such. 
On  this  account  He  groaned  in  Himself  at  the  tomb  of 
I^azarus,  because  the  death  of  Lazarus  at  the  hand  of 
Satan  is  an  attempt  to  prove  that  Jesus  can  not  be  the 
Messiah,  since  He  is  not  able  to  protedl  even  His  near- 
est friends.  Therefore,  praying,  He  says :  *'  Father, 
I  thank  Thee  that  Thou  hear  est  Me  always, ' '  and  calls 
Lazarus  back  into  life,  tho  he  has  already  been  four 
days  in  the  grave  and  decay  has  already  begun. 

Thus,  Jesus'  miracles  are  testimonies  of  His  vocation, 
and,  indeed,  the  healing  and  helping  miracles  are  wit- 
nesses that  He  came  not  to  condemn  but  to  save. 
Thus  it  is  that  He  combines  in  the  answer  which  He 

204 


THE  MIRACLE-MINISTRY  OF  JESUS 

sends  to  the  Baptist  in  His  temptation,  His  miracles, 
and  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  ;  thus  it  is  that  the 
universality  of  the  miracles  is  just  as  truly  emphasized 
in  this  manner  as  in  the  apocalyptic  vision  of  the  new 
heaven  and  the  new  earth  :  *  *  Neither  shall  there  be 
any  more  mourning,  nor  crying,  nor  pain,  and  He 
shall  wipe  away  every  tear  from  their  eyes."  Thus, 
also,  the  miracles  of  Jesus  are  not  merely  signs  but 
prophecies,  not  for  our  time,  and  in  general  neither 
for  the  time  of  the  history  of  the  world,  nor  for  that 
of  the  history  of  the  Church,  but  for  the  great  wonder 
of  the  final  term,  the  completion  of  the  work  of  salva- 
tion. 

Just  at  this  point  the  question  as  to  the  possibility 
and  reality  of  miracles  comes  in.  Whoever  once  has 
suffered  misery  and  distress  knows  very  well  that  all 
this  sorrow  comes  from  the  unbroken  order  in  nature 
and  history,  within  which  we  are  shut  up  as  sinners 
and  as  accessories.  Our  longing  is  a  longing  after  re- 
demption. Not  that  we  could  become  lords  over  this 
world  order.  The  longing  after  the  liberty  of  the 
glory  of  the  children  of  God,  as  Paul  calls  it,  is  some- 
thing else.  The  Christian  is  not  to  despair,  least  of 
all  is  he  to  be  put  out  of  humor  and  be  alienated  from 
faith  through  his  suffering,  whether  merited  or  unmer- 
ited. He  is  to  have  and  retain  peace  in  God's  grace, 
and  even  in  w^eakness  he  is  to  experience,  like  Paul, 
the  power  of  grace,  which  helps  him  not  only  to  be- 
lieve, but  also  to  bear  witness  of  the  wondrous  undi- 
minishing  of  the  grace  of  God.  And  he  is  to  hope, 
hope  in  a  deed  of  God  our  Savior,  in  the  deed  of  the 
great  renewing  of  the  world  according  to  His  Word  : 

205 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

*'  Behold,  I  make  all  things  new  !  "  This  renewing  is 
not  the  result  of  development,  but  the  contrar3^  The 
result  of  development  would  be  perdition.  The  res- 
toration of  the  w^orld  is  the  end  of  God's  ways  for 
our  redemption  and  renewing,  and  these  ways  are 
from  beginning  to  end  the  very  opposite  of  all  self- 
evident  truth.  The  method  here  is  not  development 
but  transformation,  as  the  individual  can  not  develop 
himself  into  a  child  of  God,  into  a  new  creature,  so 
neither  can  the  world  into  a  new  world.  In  the  ways 
of  God,  w^hich,  step  by  step,  are  to  bring  the  world  to 
be  a  new  world,  the  experience  repeats  itself :  '  *  Where 
sin  abounded,  grace  did  abound  more  exceedingly." 
If  we  are  convinced  of  what  Jesus  shall  sometime  do 
we  are  also  convinced  of  what  He  once  did.  The 
certainty  of  the  miracle  of  the  final  renewal  of  the 
world  carries  with  it  and  w^orks  out  the  certainty 
of  faith  with  regard  to  the  miracles  which  He  did. 
We  can  not  have  and  we  do  not  need  a  Savior  who 
can  not  do  miracles  and  who  has  not  really  done 
them. 

The  working  forces  of  Jesus,  the  power  with  w^hich 
He,  the  man  of  low  estate,  was  endowed  for  His  office, 
wrought  in  Him  to  such  effecft  that  He  was  able  Him- 
self to  suffer  and  to  die  solely  to  help  others.  The  help 
which  He  brought  to  us  is  wondrous  help.  It  is  pro- 
vided in  the  fa6l  that  He  can  do  what  none  else  can 
do — neither  father,  nor  mother,  nor  the  most  powerful 
on  earth:  take  away  sins.  He  Himself  unites  this 
ability  with  His  miracle-adlivity  w^hen  He  asks  the 
murmuring  scribes:  "  Whether  it  is  easier  to  say,  Thy 
sins  are  forgiven,  or  to  say,  Arise,  and  walk?  "     The 

206 


THE  MIRACLE-MINISTRY  OF  JESUS 

easier  acfl,  the  miracle,  is,  however,  so  great  that  it  can 
only  be  a  sign  of  a  greater,  3'es,  the  greatest — a  sign, 
namely,  of  the  power  to  forgive  sins.  For  forgiveness 
never  w^as  and  never  is  something  that  stands  by  it- 
self. It  is  and  remains  conne(5led  with  Jesus.  It  is 
connedled  with  Him  w^lien  He  says  at  the  institution 
of  the  vSupper  :  "This  is  my  body,  my  blood,  given 
and  shed  for  3'ou  unto  remission  of  sins  "  ;  it  is  con- 
ne(fled  with  Him  again  when  He  brings  it  to  pass  in 
the  case  of  the  man  sick  of  the  pals}';  it  is  connecSled 
wdth  Him  still  again  for  David,  for  Abraham,  because 
they  believed  in  that  God  whose  eternal  counsel  it  was 
to  realize  all  His  thoughts  of  grace  in  and  through 
Jesus.  In  the  same  power  by  which  Jesus  foregoes 
everything,  so  that  forgiveness  became  and  remained 
ours,  he  performs  the  miracles.  They  are  partly  to 
effedt  the  imderstanding  of  His  calling  as  a  Savior 
which  embraces  the  whole  world,  partly  to  effe(5l  faith 
in  those  w^ho  wish  to  understand  Him,  and  partly  for 
those  wdio  already  believe  in  Him,  that  they  may 
anticipate  in  their  experience  the  much  greater  things 
which  they  shall  yet  see. 

From  this  it  becomes  also  evident  why  Jesus  did  not 
desire  His  miracles  to  become  known  in  the  land,  since 
as  to  their  purpose  and  tenor  they  became  only  intelligi- 
ble in  connection  with  His  Gospel  and  His  person.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  importance  that  He  Himself 
attached  to  them,  and  wdiich  the  people's  expectation 
attached  to  them,  becomes  very  evident  when  we  read 
that  of  the  multitude  many  believed  in  Him,  and  they 
said:  "When  Christ  {i.e.,  the  Messiah]  shall  come, 
will  He  do  more  signs  than  those  which  this  man  hath 

207 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

done?"  Thus  it  becomes  evident,  further,  that  we 
can  not  at  all  dispense  with  the  miracles  in  the  history 
of  God's  self- attestation  for  our  redemption  or  in  the 
history  of  revelation,  and  especially  in  the  history  of 
Jesus  and  the  accomplishment  of  our  redemption. 
This  is  not  to  say  that  we  can  not  dispense  with  them. 
Not  because  we  could  believe  in  Jesus  only  through 
them  and  by  their  assistance  ;  this  could  not  be  true 
of  us,  because  we  see  them  not,  but  must  be  informed 
of  them.  We  can  not  dispense  with  them  because  we 
know  Him  and  believe  in  Him  as  the  Lord  of  all 
things  to  whom  all  is  given  by  His  Father.  The  mir- 
acles show  us  bound  up  with  that  which  we  believe 
and  in  which  we  hope.  IVe  believe  not  in  Jesus  for  the 
sake  of  the  miracles  y  but  we  believe  the  miracles  for  Jesus' 
sake.  The  history  of  Jesus  were  not  the  history  of  the 
Messiah,  and  therewith  the  history  of  the  effecfluation  of 
our  redemption,  if  it  were  not  at  the  same  time  a  history 
full  of  wonders.  They  belong  to  the  history,  and  can 
not  be  separated  from  it.  He  who  gives  them  up  must 
give  up  the  Messiahship  of  Jesus — must  state,  like  Har- 
nack,  that  Jesus  does  not  belong  to  the  Gospel.  They 
are  necessary,  but  they  are  necessary  not  primarily 
but  secondarily. 

Finally,  we  may  now  the  better  understand  the  lack 
of  miracles  in  the  Church  in  later  historical  tijnes,  in  our 
own  time.  We  know  and  have  the  greater  miracle, 
the  miracle  of  our  pardon  :  "In  Christ  we  have  our 
redemption  through  His  blood,  the  forgiveness  of  our 
trespasses."  Therefore,  w^e  should  now  wait  for  the 
greatest  miracle:  the  completion  of  the  redemption. 
We  have  the  Savior,  and  in  Him  the  eternal  super- 

208 


THE  MIRACLE-MINISTRY  OF  JESUS 


mundane  life,  something  which  no  one  knows  or 
has  except  he  who  has  also  the  Lord  Christ.  We  can 
and  needs  must  testify  of  Christ,  so  that  from  man  to 
man  not  only  the  news  but  the  possession  also  of  this 
salvation,  faith  in  Jesus  and  faith  in  the  redemption, 
shall  be  transmitted.  And  where  we  testify  of  Him  by 
word  or  example  there  He  Himself  works  upon  those 
who  see  and  hear  it,  and  attests  to  them  His  Word, 
and  thereby  Himself.  This  is  the  wondrous  presence 
which  belongs  to  Him  and  to  no  one  else,  a  presence 
in  wdiich  He  proves  Himself  completely  for  all  that  Pie 
is — an  entirely  different  reality  from  what  we  should 
have  if  He  were  only  to  give  us  miracles  or  the  signs 
of  what  He  is  and  wills.  He  does  no  sign,  but  attests 
and  proves  Himself  as  Lord,  as  Redeemer.  He  par- 
dons ;  this  is  His  true  w^ork,  His  real  work,  as  a 
Savior.  On  this  account,  w^hen  He  expe(5ls  us  to  deny 
ourselves  and  to  suffer  and  bear  what  the  course  of 
the  w^orld  enjoins  us  to  sacrifice,  suffer,  and  bear,  we 
can  do  it.  Jesus  never  promised  to  make  an  end  to 
this  before  the  end  of  all  comes.  He  has  only  said, 
and  thus  far  in  every  case  has  kept  His  w^ord  :  *  *  And 
every  one  that  has  left  house,  or  brethren,  or  sisters, 
or  father,  or  mother,  or  children,  or  lands  for  My 
name's  sake,  and  for  the  Gospel's  sake,  shall  receive  a 
hundredfold  now  in  this  time  with  persecutions,  and 
in  the  world  to  come  life  everlasting."  W^e  can  be 
without  the  miracles,  the  less,  the  merely  temporal 
sign,  since  we  have  the  greater — namely,  the  presence 
of  the  Lord  Himself,  of  our  Redeemer,  if  we  only  wish 
to  know  Him.  To  that  great  day  which  impends  over 
us  w^e  can  forego  the  miracles  and  can  suffer,  hard  as 

200 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

it  often  may  be  for  us,  even  as  Paul  did  forego,  tho  it 
was  hard  for  him,  when  the  Eord,  at  his  three  times 
reiterated  prayer  for  the  removal  of  the  thorn  in  the 
flesh,  gave  only  the  answer  (Paul  would  have  afterward 
said,  the  glorious  answer)  :  "  My  grace  is  sufficient 
for  thee ;  for  My  power  is  made  perfedl  in  weak- 
ness. ' ' 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Lord  promised  to  His  dis- 
ciples :  * '  He  that  believeth  in  Me,  the  works  that  I 
do,  shall  he  do  also  ;  and  greater  works  than  these 
shall  he  do,  because  I  go  unto  the  Father."  This 
word,  too,  is  fulfilled,  and  is  daily  fulfilled.  The 
greater  works  are  not  works  as  the  Pharisees  and  Sad- 
ducees  meant  them,  who,  dissatisfied  with  all  which 
Jesus  had  thus  far  done,  asked  a  sign  from  heaven, 
which  Jesus  denied  unto  them.  The  greater  w^orks 
are  the  appropriation  of  salvation,  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,  and  thereby  of  power  and  strength  from  above, 
and  for  the  higher  life,  which  we  need,  and  the  com- 
munication of  the  Spirit  to  those  who  hear  the  Word 
and  wish  to  believe.  For  men  are  to  learn  to  believe 
through  men,  receive  mercy,  obtain  the  assurance  of 
the  forgiveness  of  their  sins  ;  they  are,  indeed,  to  re- 
ceive forgiveness  through  men,  which  shall  hold  good 
in  heaven.  Whoever  receives  the  spirit  of  faith,  or 
has  learned  by  the  Spirit  to  believe  in  his  own  redemp- 
tion, has  received  here  below  the  greatest  thing  possi- 
ble to  be  received  by  men.  Yet,  tho  Paul's  word  has 
said  to  him,  "Ye,  too,  were  bought  with  a  price," 
or  Euther  has  repeated  to  him  that  which,  as  is  re- 
ported, the  friar  had  said  to  him,  **  I  believe  in  the 
forgiveness  of  sins, ' '  or  some  living  brother  has  said, 

210 


THE  MIRACUvMINIvSTRY  OF  JEvSUS 

"Thy  sins  are  forgiven;  fear  not,  only  believe!" 
— such  grace,  such  connnunication  of  salvation,  and 
therewith  of  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  no  one 
has  received  if  it  should  be  established  that  Jesus  has 
not  completed  His  work. 


211 


XI 


THE    WORK    OF    JESUS;     OR.    HIS    SUFFERING    AND 
DEATH,   HIS   RESURRECTION  AND  ASCENSION 


EVEN  the  miracles  did  not  make  Jesus  known  by 
-  them  as  the  Messiah  whom  God  sent  as  the 
^^  Son  of  God.  Individuals,  as  one  of  the  ten 
lepers,  might  return  and  give  God  the  honor; 
the  total  imprevssion,  the  real  success  was  everywhere 
only  a  fleeting  one,  a  passing  surprise  at  the  mighty 
man,  an  ephemeral  fascination  for  the  great  deed  of 
God  which  happened  through  Him.  So  the  wonder- 
ing thousands  who  crowded  upon  Him  to  hear  the 
Word  of  God  afterward  went  their  way.  They  either 
forgot  the  Word  of  the  Kingdom,  their  greatest  hopes 
and  their  greatest  good,  or  they  received  it  with  joy 
till  the  time  of  temptation,  when  they  fell  away,  or 
they  wished  to  combine  both  Kingdom  of  Heaven  and 
kingdom  of  the  earth,  everlasting  and  temporal  good, 
care  for  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  its  righteousness 
and  care  for  the  earthly  interests,  and  the  Word  was 
choked  in  them.  Jesus  felt  himself  obliged  to  speak 
in  parables  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  and  its  form  in 
this  world  and  time,  because  this  form  which  it  took 
and  had  to  take  on  account  of  Israel's  unbelief  was 
with  difiiculty  perceived  even  by  the  disciples  them- 
selves, but  could  not  be  perceived  at  all  by  unbe- 
lievers. The  opposition  to  Jesus  became  greater  and 
greater — so  great  that  even  the  faith  of  the  disciples 

212 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


would  seem  to  have  been  endangered  by  it.  When, 
therefore,  the  time  came  that  was  to  bring  all  things  to 
a  crisis,  and  Jesus  had  set  His  face  steadfastly  to  go  for 
the  East  Supper  from  Galilee  to  Jerusalem  by  the  way 
of  Samaria,  while  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  city  of 
Caesarea  Philippi  He  asked  His  disciples:  "  Who  do 
men  say  that  I  (or  the  Son  of  Man)  am  ?  ' '  Jesus  knew 
that  they  did  not  acknowledge  Him  as  the  Messiah, 
the  Son  of  God;  that  they  denied  to  Him  the  predicate, 
"  Son  of  God."  Knowing  this.  He  put  the  question, 
in  considering  which  it  makes  naturally  no  difference 
whether  He  said  :  ' '  What  am  I  ?  "  or  "  What  is  the 
Son  of  Man  ?  ' '  The  disciples  were  to  make  up  their 
minds  upon  what  tl:e  people  say  and  think  of  Him. 
They  must  know  and  recognize  Him  as  something  more 
than  this  judgment  of  the  populace.  It  was  now  to  be 
made  clear  whether  thej^had  enough  courage  and  faith 
and  firmness  to  abide  by  that  which  they  themselves  have 
known.  None,  say  the  disciples,  knows  and  confesses 
the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  God.  Jesus  is  something 
great,  greater  than  all  men  whom  God  ever  raised  up 
in  Israel :  one  of  the  ancient  prophets  ;  one  who,  after 
man3^  many  3'ears,  had  returned  not  from  the  grave — 
this  no  one  could  do  any  longer — but  from  the  realm 
of  death  ;  a  revenant,  therefore  he  also  can  do  such 
signs.  Now  Jesus  asks  :  ' '  But  who  say  ye  that  I 
am?"  The  question  is,  wdiether  the  disciples,  in  the 
face  of  this  semi-acknowledgment  and  yet  complete 
refusal,  will  abide  by  that  wdiich  they  have  known. 
They  are,  forsooth,  children  of  their  people  ;  will  they 
endure  to  realize  themselves  in  opposition  to  all  their 
brethren  ?     Then    Peter    answers    for   all   of    them  : 

213 


THE  ESvSKNCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

"Thou  art  Christ,  the  Messiah,  the  Son  of  the  living 
God  !  Thou  art  the  Son  of  Man,  who  should  be  noth- 
ing more  than  anj^  other,  a  man  born  of  men,  to  whose 
Messiahship  every  one  objedls  !  Thou  art,  neverthe- 
less, the  Messiah  ;  Thou  art  truly  the  Son  of  God." 
And  what  is  signified  and  included  in  this  fa6l  that 
the  Messiah  is  the  Son  of  God  is  only  to  be  said  and 
to  be  known  in  the  light  of  the  reality  itself. 

Thus  Peter  expressed  his  confession  and  that  of  his 
codisciples  over  against  the  refusal  of  the  whole  peo 
pie.  Jesus  repHes  that  this  knowledge  and  confession 
is  the  foundation-rock  upon  which  He  wüU  build  His 
Church.  He  will  gather  around  Him  the  people  of 
God,  the  people  of  the  future,  no  more  the  whole  seed 
of  Abraham  after  the  flesh,  which  has  refused  this 
acknowledgment,  but  the  people  who  confess  His 
name  and  retain  Him  over  against  the  whole  people  as 
the  Messiah.  With  this  confession  to  Him  who  is 
the  foundation-stone  Peter  and  his  codisciples  are  fel- 
low fa(5lors  of  this  foundation  which  shall  bear  up  the 
entire  building  of  the  congregation  of  God,  a  founda- 
tion of  the  temple  of  God,  which  also  the  gates  of 
Hades,  which  devours  and  retains  everything,  shall  not 
overcome.  But  in  order  to  gather  together  this  con- 
gregation, something  in  particular  will  and  must  take 
place.  And  so  Jesus  commences  now  to  tell  His 
disciples — clearly,  distinc5lly,  unmistakably — what  is 
to  come.  The  Messiah  7nust  die — God's  Son  must  go 
into  death  !  "  The  Son  of  Man  must  suffer  many 
things,  and  be  reje(5led  by  the  elders  and  the  chief 
priests  and  the  scribes  and  be  killed,  and  after  three 
days  He  shall  rise  again."     He  is  the  Messiah  and 

214 


THE  WORK  OF  JKSUS 


shall  remain  the  Messiah  ;  the  Son  of  Man  is  the  vSon 
of  God  ;  nothing  and  no  one  can  change  anything  as 
to  that.  There  is  to  be  a  Messianic  congregation, 
such  as  Israel  should  be  and  is  not  ;  He  will  build 
and  He  will  also  protecft  it  against  the  realm  of  the 
dead,  into  which  otherwise  everything  sinks,  and  He 
will  thus  prove  that  He  is  really  the  Messiah.  But 
His  way  goes  into  death  and  through  death.  Thus, 
and  only  thus,  can  He  be  the  Messiah. 

The  disciples  could  not  understand  this,  and  Peter 
commenced  to  rebuke  Him.  But  Jesus  was  so  serious 
with  His  word  and  with  His  will  to  be  faithful  to  His 
calling,  He  felt  so  deeply  the  necessity  of  being  the 
Messiah  at  any  rate  and  at  all  cost — yes,  at  the  price  of 
life — that  He  turned  on  Peter  as  if  he  was  the  Satanic 
tempter  himself,  and  said:  "Get  thee  behind  Me, 
Satan,  for  thou  mindest  not  the  things  of  God,  but  the 
things  of  men. "  It  is  irrevocable  Üiat  the  Savior  whom 
God  has  given  to  the  world  to  be  the  everlasting  King 
of  His  Kingdom,  must  go  through  death  as  if  He  were 
no  King  at  all.  Not  as  if  He  were  no  more  King — for 
none  has  acknowledged  Him — but  as  if  He  never  had 
been  a  King  !  It  must  come  to  this:  that  it  looks  as  if 
He  were  rejected  by  God,  as  if  God  had  drawn  away 
His  hand  from  Him.  But  He  shall  receive  again  His 
life,  He  shall  rise  again  ;  He  is,  nevertheless,  the  Mes- 
siah— thus,  indeed,  does  He  only  become  the  Mes.siah. 
That  He  died — precisely  this  belongs  to  Plis  calling. 

What  Jesus  had  thus  far  indicated  to  His  discijDles 
and  spoken  publicly  only  as  in  a  figure  He  hence- 
forth expresses  repeatedly  and  openly.  From  the 
beginning   He   accepted  the   necessity  of  His  death, 

215 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

and  lias  never  been  obliged  to  exchange  at  any  time 
the  illusion  of  a  vidlorious  Messiah  quickly  gaining 
the  people  for  the  pidlure  of  a  dying  Messiah,  for 
whom  He  then  only  recovered  the  traits  of  Messiah  by 
His  reference  to  the  resurredlion.  There  is  no  surer 
way  to  death  than  to  become  a  helper,  a  savior  of  sin- 
ners, a  savior  in  the  name  of  God  and  after  God's  will. 
Jesus  inspects  the  grounds  of  the  people's  opinion, 
which  His  disciples  report  to  Him.  The  meaning  of 
this  general  lack  of  understanding  for  His  calling 
which  exists  to  this  day  Jesus  understands.  That 
which  the  voice  of  the  people  denies  to  Him  the  Father 
allows  to  fall  to  His  lot.  It  is  God  who  glorifies  and 
professes  Him,  saying  to  the  disciples  present  on  the 
mount  of  transfiguration:  "This  is  my  beloved  Son, 
hear  3^e  Him."  And  this  declaration  assures  Him  and 
His  disciples  that  this  reality  remains.  But  this  also 
remains :  He  must  go  into  death  !  Jesus  saj^s  a 
second  time  to  His  disciples  :  * '  The  Son  of  Man  must 
suffer  many  things  and  be  set  at  naught,  as  it  is 
w^ritten. ' '  He  refers  them  to  the  Scripture  and  to  the 
fate  of  all  servants  of  God,  to  John  the  Baptist,  the 
second  Elijah,  unto  whom  men  did  what  they  wished. 
From  this  shall  follow  that  which  awaits  Him:  "  The 
Son  of  Man  is  delivered  up  into  the  hands  of  men,  and 
they  shall  kill  Him;  and  when  He  is  killed,  after  three 
days  He  shall  rise  again."  Once  more,  therefore, 
He  is  the  Messiah,  and  remains  the  Messiah  ;  but  He 
must  go  into  death  without  contradicflion,  and  only  then 
will  He  be  able  to  prove  that  He  is  not  merely  the 
Messiah. 

The  disciples  understood  not  what  He  meant.    They 

216 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


heard  the  words,  they  sensed  what  He  said,  but  they 
did  not  apprehend  it.  Does  He  speak  figuratively  ? 
What  does  He  mean  when  He  speaks  of  death  and 
resurrection  ?  They  were  afraid  to  ask  Him.  That 
He  could  mean  literally  what  He  said  they  regarded 
as  entirely  precluded.  He  repeated  the  announce- 
ment of  the  suffering  a  third  time,  and  spoke  more 
in  detail  :  "  Behold,  we  go  up  to  Jerusalem;  and  the 
Son  of  Man  shall  be  delivered  unto  the  chief  priests 
and  scribes  ;  and  they  shall  condemn  Him  to  death, 
and  shall  deliver  Him  unto  the  Gentiles  to  mock,  and 
to  scourge,  and  to  crucify;  and  the  third  day  He  shall 
be  raised  up."  Consider  now  what  that  means.  The 
high  priests  and  scribes,  the  chief  men,  the  authorities, 
the  leaders  of  God's  people,  will  condenni  Him,  and 
the  Gentiles  shall  be  enabled  through  them  to  mock 
Him  and  to  kill  Him;  and  only  thus,  actually  thus,  is 
He  to  be  the  Messiah,  and  so  is  to  come  again  and 
prove  it !  Could  an  Israelite  believe  this  ?  No  !  The 
answer  is  found  in  the  request  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee, 
through  their  mother  Salome,  that  He  might  grant 
them  to  sit  on  His  right  and  on  His  left  in  His  glory. 
The  other  disciples  are  indignant  at  this  request  of 
James  and  John,  who  lay  in  Jesus'  bosom,  and  later 
became  the  first  and  the  last  martyrs  respe(5lively  of 
the  twelve,  and  at  the  prerogative  which  these  desired. 
They  are  reminded  by  Jesus  that  the  Son  of  Man,  the 
Messiah,  whom  no  one  will  acknowledge,  had  not  come 
to  vSeek  ministry  and  honor,  but  to  minister  and  to 
give  His  life  a  ransom  for  many.  This  too  they  did 
not  understand.  How  should  that  be  possible  ?  Jesus 
goes  clearly  and  consciously  on  His  way  to  death.    He 

217 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


enters  into  Jerusalem  exadlly  according  to  the  proph- 
ec}^  of  Zechariah  and  Isaiah.  No  one  suspe<5ls  this, 
no  one  understands  Him.  They  understand,  indeed, 
that  He  speaks  very  seriously  with  the  people,  but 
they  did  not  know  that  with  this  and  with  the  deed  at 
the  tomb  of  Lazarus  He  has  brought  to  maturity  the 
decision  of  the  leaders  to  kill  Him.  When,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  resuscitation  of  Lazarus,  all  people  came 
unto  Him,  the  Sanhedrin  asks  no  more  w^hat  it  means. 
At  the  proposal  of  Caiaphas  they  rather  decide  to  kill 
Him,  for— thus  old  Caiaphas  confirms  his  proposal— 
"it  is  expedient  for  us  that  one  man  should  die  for 
the  people,  and  that  the  wdiole  nation  perish  not." 
Thus  God  compels  the  high  priest  to  do  unwillingly 
that  which  belongs  to  his  priestly  office  and  to  give 
expression  to  the  will  of  God,  even  while  he  allows 
only  the  hatred  of  his  heart  to  speak. 

Jesus  celebrates  with  His  disciples,  who  understand 
nothing  yet,  the  Passover  feast,  the  redemption-meal 
of  the  Old  Testament  in  remembrance  of  the  past  de- 
liverance from  Egypt,  and  now  of  the  greater  deliver- 
ance through  the  Messiah  guaranteed  thereby  and 
ever  since  desired.  ' '  With  desire  I  have  desired  to 
eat  this  Passover  wdth  you  before  I  suffer,"  saith 
Jesus.  It  is  the  last  Passover  of  the  Old  Covenant. 
Now  it  can  guarantee  nothing  more,  and  has  nothing 
more  to  prophesy,  for  the  redemption  itself  is  now  ac- 
complished. Jesus  then  institutes  for  His  disciples  a 
redemption-meal,  the  Lord's  evening-meal,  with  bread 
and  wine — the  Lord's  Supper,  as  we  call  it — and  says : 
"This  is  My  body,  My  blood,  given  for  you  and 
poured  out  for  you  for  the  remission  of  sins. ' '     Did 

218 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


they  understand  it  ?  Certainly  not.  They  anticipate 
that  sovicthing  is  coming,  the  fulfilment  of  all  tlieir 
hopes,  but  they  think  it  quite  otherwise  than  as  it 
in  facfl  occurred.  Therefore  they  commence  ri^ht 
away  to  contend  again  as  to  who  among  them  is  tlie 
greatest  in  the  Kingdom  of  God.  And  this  almost  in 
the  same  moment  in  which  Jesus  had  just  said  unto 
them  :  "One  of  you  shall  betray  me  !  "  Frightened, 
they  ask  :  "  Is  it  I,  I^ord?  "  Jesus  advises  them,  con- 
firms their  hope  in  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and  says 
to  Peter  the  severe  words:  "Simon,  Simon,  behold, 
Satan  asked  to  have  thee,  that  he  might  sift  thee  as 
wlieat;  but  I  made  supplication  for  thee,  that  thy  faith 
fail  not  ! ' '  But  neither  he  nor  the  other  disciples 
listen  to  it.  Jesus  declares  unto  them  :  "  All  3^e  shall 
be  offended  in  Me  this  night  and  give  up  the  faith." 
None  believes  His  affirmation.  He  says  to  Peter  : 
* '  Before  the  cock  crows  twice,  thou  shalt  deny  me 
thrice."  Peter  answers:  "  I  am  ready  to  go  to  prison 
with  Thee  and  to  die  with  Thee  ' '  ;  for  he  thinks  not 
that  Jesus  can  be  imprisoned  and  be  led  to  death,  and 
he  is  therefore  ready  to  defy  the  whole  world,  since  it 
can  not  possibly  triumph. 

But  Jesus'  fate  now  begins  to  be  fulfilled.  With 
His  disciples  He  goes  into  the  garden  called  Gethsem- 
ane,  w^hither  He  had  been  wont  at  other  times  to  go  to 
pray.  By  prayer  He  will  prepare  Himself  for  that 
which  He  clearly  sees  before  Him.  Three  disciples, 
Peter  and  James  and  John,  who  were  the  nearest  to 
Him,  He  takes  with  Him,  that  they  may  watch  and 
pray  with  Him.  They  anticipate  nothing  yet.  But 
it   is  hard  to  bear  what  is  to  come  :   that   His  own 

21Ö 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

people,  the  people  of  promise,  should  kill  Him,  the 
promised  One,  the  first-born  brother — who  can  con- 
ceive it  ?  Is  Israel  now  to  add  that  sin  to  all  its  sins, 
and  to  its  unbelief  ?  Has  the  measure  of  sins  become 
so  full  that  nothing  more  is  left  except  for  Him  to 
suffer  and  to  drink  the  cup  which  men  offer  to  Him  ? 
Has  the  Father  irrevocably  decided  that  He  must 
drink  it  ?  Can  He  not  hinder  this  outbreak  of  sin  ? 
Jesus  is  ready  to  submit  unreservedly  to  the  Father's 
will,  but  must  it  come  to  pass  that  His  brothers  are  to 
bring  Him,  their  brother,  to  death  ?  Is  there  no  other 
way  of  salvation  ?  God  has,  indeed,  power  over  every- 
thing— can  He  not  prevent  that  Jesus  shall  suffer  this 
and  die  ?  Yes,  He  has  the  power,  He  can  hinder  it, 
but  only  through  judgment.  Then  every  mouth  must 
grow  dumb  which  opens  against  Jesus,  each  hand 
wither  which  is  extended  against  Him  ;  but  where  re- 
mains, then,  the  forgiveness  and  the  mercy?  Then 
the  end  of  Israel,  the  end  of  the  world,  the  great  judg- 
ment-day of  God  will  have  come.  No !  by  this  suffer- 
ing alone  can  there  come  grace,  forgiveness,  and  de- 
liverance. He  must  suffer.  He  must  go  through  this 
depth,  in  order  that,  with  this  sin,  all  other  sins  may 
not  be  imputed  to  the  people.  He  must  fight  alone 
this  struggle,  for  His  most  intimate  disciples  are  not 
able  even  to  look  upon  Jesus'  struggle  of  the  soul, 
still  less  to  watch  with  Him,  were  it  only  for  one  hour. 
To  the  end  Jesus  remains  true  to  His  calling,  to  be  the 
Savior  who  saves  His  people  from  all  their  sins.  He 
says  not :  ' '  Father,  it  is  too  hard;  I  can  bear  no  more  !  ' ' 
He  received  the  strengthening  which  He  needed  in 
order  to  be  able  to  die,  as  having  no  wall  of  His  own  ; 

220 


THE  WORK  OF  JKSUS 


and  yet  with  a  will  obedient  to  the  will  of  the  Father, 
He  rose  up  from  prayer,  and  said  to  His  disciples  : 
"Behold,  the  hour  is  at  hand,  and  the  Son  of  Man  is 
betrayed  into  the  hands  of  sinners.  Arise,  let  us  be 
going  :  behold  he  is  at  hand  that  betrayeth  me."  And 
thus  He  went  to  meet  death,  the  death  of  the  cross — 
at  once  a  device  for  inflidling  capital  punishment,  a 
pillor}^  and  an  instrument  of  torture. 

The  traitor  comes,  and  with  him  a  great  multitude 
with  swords  and  staves,  sent  by  the  chief  priests  and 
elders  of  Israel.  Judas,  a(5ling  as  if  he  were  the  truest 
friend  of  Jesus,  salutes  and  kisses  Him.  But  Jesus 
can  not  be  deceived.  By  virtue  of  His  calling,  He 
needed  not  to  ask  any  one,  for  He  Himself  knew  what 
was  in  man,  and  already  long  ago,  yes,  from  the  very 
beginning.  He  had  seen  through  Judas.  But  He  had 
borne  wäth  him,  and  had  shown  him  all  love — the 
greatest  love  which  a  man  can  experience.  Even  at 
the  Last  Supper  Jesus  had  said  to  Judas  :  * '  That  thou 
doest,  do  quickly" — thus  giving  him  a  sign  that  He 
knew  him,  in  order  that  he  might  repent  3'et  in  the 
last  hour  if  he  so  desired.  Judas  had  not  repented,  Init 
went  out,  night  about  him  and  night  in  him.  With 
pain  Jesus  had  remembered  him,  the  lost  child  in  His 
high  priestly  prayer;  had  spoken  of  the  lost  child  with 
sorrow  to  the  disciples  when  He  said  :  ' '  Good  were  it 
for  that  man  if  he  had  not  been  born."  Now  as  he 
comes  as  leader  of  an  armed  multitude,  Judas  must  hear 
that  he  can  not  deceive  Jesus.  For  years  Judas  had 
never  applied  to  himself  the  w^ord  concerning  the  one 
disciple  who  is  a  devil.  Now  he  is  to  know  why  Jesus 
has   suffered  him  so  long.      ' '  Judas,  betrayest  thou 

221 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  Son  of  Man  with  a  kiss  ? ' '  The  servants  come 
upon  Jesus  to  seize  Him.  "  Whom  seek  ye?  "  Jesus 
asked  them  ;  and  when  they  sa}^,  '  *  Jesus  of  Nazareth, ' ' 
He  saith,  "  I  am  He,"  and  the  power  of  this  word 
shows  to  them  the  power  of  this  Nazarene,  who  as  a 
Nazarene,  as  they  thought,  could  on  no  account  be 
the  Messiah.  He  throws  them  to  the  ground  as  a 
sign  that,  if  He  is  not  willing,  the  w^hole  world  can  do 
nothing  against  Him.  As  with  this  multitude,  so  all 
armies  sent  out  against  Him  would  fall  to  the  ground. 
But  will  he  exercise  this  power  ?  No !  * '  This  is  your 
hour,  and  the  power  of  darkness,"  says  Jesus,  and 
gives  Himself  voluntarily  into  the  hands  of  His  ene- 
mies. For  He  would  rather  die  than  destroy  even  one 
of  them.  Peter,  who  had  drawn  the  sword — perhaps  to 
make  good  his  word — had  already  been  reproved;  the 
wound  inflicted  by  him  had  been  healed,  and  he  had 
been  told  :  '  *  Thinkest  thou  that  I  can  not  beseech  My 
Father,  and  He  shall  even  now  send  Me  more  than 
twelve  legions  of  angels  ?  How  then  should  the  Scrip- 
tures be  fulfilled  ?  ' '  which  prophesied  of  the  redemption 
and  whose  word  is  authoritative  even  for  the  fate  of 
the  Messiah.  In  them  we  read  not  merely,  *'Thou 
hast  made  Me  to  serve  with  thy  sins,  thou  hast  w^earied 
Me  wdtli  thine  iniquities, '  *  but  they  also  speak  of  the 
suffering  of  all  servants  of  God,  and  therefore  also  of 
the  suffering  of  the  servant  of  God  whose  office  it  is  to 
suffer  and  to  die,  that  the  world  perish  not — as  it  is 
written  :  "Surely  He  hath  borne  our  griefs,  and  car- 
ried our  sorrows  :  yet  we  did  esteem  Him  stricken, 
smitten  of  God,  and  afflicfted.  But  He  was  wounded 
for  our  transgressions,  He  was  bruised  for  our  iniqui- 
222 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


ties  :  the  chastisement  of  our  peace  was  upon  Him, 
and  with  His  stripes  we  are  healed." 

The  way  leads  now  to  the  Sanhedrin,  the  highest 
tribunal  of  the  Jews,  which  at  this  time  had  only  to 
judge  particulars  in  religious  matters  and  questions. 
Jesus  does  not  defend  Himself,  for  every  defense  were 
opposition  to  the  fate  that  threatened  Him,  and,  if 
successful,  would  lead  only  to  the  condenniation 
of  His  people  and  thereby  of  the  world.  On  this 
account  He  neither  answers  the  former  high  priest 
Annas,  who  had  no  right  at  all  to  question  Him, 
nor  does  He  defend  Himself  against  the  false  wit- 
nesses who  were  hired  to  testify  against  Him,  and 
who,  notwithstanding,  could  not  bring  a  unanimous 
testimony  against  Him.  But  w^hen  the  officiating  high 
priest  Caiaphas  adjures  Him  officially,  so  that  every- 
thing— affirmation,  negation,  silence — is  an  oath,  and 
when  the  question  which  is  destined  to  bring  about 
His  death  is  thus  formulated:  "  Art  thou  the  Messiah, 
the  Son  of  the  Blessed,  the  Son  of  Jehovah?"  Jesus 
can  no  more  keep  silence.  Now  He  gives  the  answer 
for  which  He  is  ready  to  die,  and  for  which  His  death 
is  to  atone  according  to  the  intention  of  His  judges, 
but  which  His  death  shall  confirm,  according  to  His 
own  intention  and  the  Father's  counsel ;  it  is  the 
answer  by  which  He  confirms  with  an  oath  before  the 
face  of  the  judging  God,  and  in  view  of  eternity — that 
He  is  the  Messiah,  and  that  they  all  (His  judges  and 
all  who  now  reje6l  Him)  shall  see  Him  sitting  at  the 
right  hand  of  power  and  coming  on  the  clouds  of 
heaven.  For  no  other  reason,  therefore,  would  He 
have  to  die — this  Jesus'  answer  states — than  because 

223 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

He  claims  to  be  and  is  the  Messiah.  To  this  He 
swears,  for  this  He  receives  His  sentence.  There  is 
still  time  for  His  judges  to  see  what  wrong  they  are 
about  to  do.  But  high  priests  and  elders,  chosen  for 
the  very  purpose  of  seeing  to  it  that  the  people  do 
not  forfeit  their  future,  and  that  they  should  expe- 
rience the  salvation  of  God,  put  themselves  into  the 
most  complete  opposition  imaginable  to  their  official 
duty,  and  condemn  Him  who,  if  Divine  right  were 
to  decide,  was  alone  worthy  of  life  among  a  whole 
people  deserving  of  death,  and  who  alone  was  able 
to  save  the  life  of  sinners.  The  earthly  high  priest 
condemns  the  eternal  high  priest :  this  is  the  re- 
sult of  the  history  of  a  people  which  existed  only  for 
this  eternal  high  priest,  the  Messiah  chosen  by  God. 
The  history  of  men,  among  whom  nominally  and 
finally  reason  always  dominates,  never  brings  it  to 
truth  and  salvation,  but  to  something  quite  the  con- 
trary. Here  reason  was  only  on  the  side  of  God  and 
Jesus ;  the  world  passed  its  sentence  against  them. 
Does  it  not  do  the  same  to-day,  think  you  ? 

Disgrace  and  mockery  follow  the  sentence  of  death, 
and  the  merciless  brutality  of  the  judges  and  the 
guard,  the  hatred  intensified  through  their  conscious- 
ness of  the  greatness  of  their  offense,  outrages  the 
Holy  One  of  God.  Mockingly  the  soldiers  ask  Jesus 
to  prove  Himself  a  prophet  by  telling  the  names  of 
His  tormentors.  Jesus,  however,  mentioned  no  names; 
no  one  should  ever  think  that  He  could  not  forgive 
and  forget,  and  every  one  who  afterward  might  think 
of  the  incident  would  be  able  to  say  :  '*  He  knew  me, 
indeed,  but  mentioned  not  my  name,  and  would  not 

224 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


mention  it  out  of  pure  mere}'  !  "  Jesus  has  another 
trouble  resting  heavily  on  His  heart.  Peter's  fall  has 
in  the  meantime  taken  place,  as  Jesus  predicfled  it.  He 
does  what  He  is  still  able  to  do  to  save  him  now  from 
everlasting  perdition.  It  is,  indeed,  only  a  look  of  sor- 
row, of  severity,  and  of  love  which  He  fixes  upon 
him.  But  it  is  sufTicient  to  fill  Peter  with  the  deepest 
sadness. 

The  verdidl  is  given:  "He  is  worthy  of  death." 
We  do  not  recoil  with  terror  here  as  from  a  tumultu- 
ary proceeding,  like  that  which  occurred  at  the  ston- 
ing of  Stephen.  It  is  the  cold  hatred  that  we  feel 
which  does  not  lack  in  decorum  because  of  its  in- 
tensity. Everything  must  take  place  regularly  to 
show  how  fully  considerate  and  convinced  of  duty  and 
right  were  those  by  whom  Jesus  was  condemned  and 
led  to  death.  The  representative  of  Rome  alone  can 
effecft  the  judgment  or  arrange  the  execution.  Every 
semblance  of  haste,  hatred,  and  zeal  is  avoided. 
Pilate,  however,  needs  not  to  confirm  the  sentence — 
indeed,  he  dares  not  do  it.  He  must  prohibit  the  exe- 
cution, the  performance,  for  he  knows  what  is  right, 
and  is  the  arbitrator  of  justice  in  a  subjedl  country. 
He  sees  through  the  tricks  which  led  to  death,  and  he 
will  not  confirm  the  sentence.  No  ;  but  neither  will  he 
prohibit  the  execution,  because  he  is  afraid — he,  a 
Roman  judge,  who  should  fear  nothing  and  nobody 
except  to  do  wrong.  But  he  is  afraid,  and  tries  to 
remove  the  decision  from  himself  and  leave  it  to  Herod. 
Meanw^hile,  Herod  finds  no  guilt  in  Jesus,  and  will 
neither  interfere  with  the  right  of  the  Roman  judge 
nor  take  away  from  him  his  duty.     A  conversation 

225 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

with  Jesus  makes  it  clear  to  Pilate  that  neither  right 
nor  law  authorizes  him,  still  less  obliges  him,  to  deliver 
Jesus  to  death.  Even  the  pretext  that  Jesus  intended 
to  make  Himself  king  fails  to  impress  the  man  of 
sovereign  power  and  energy  who  would  suppress 
every  such  effort  without  scruple,  but  who  can  find 
nothing  in  Jesus  by  which  he  can  verify  such  accusa- 
tion. On  the  contrary,  the  Kingdom  whose  King  the 
man  before  him  professes  Himself  to  be  is  just  as 
innocuous  as  the  fruitless  seeking  after  truth,  which 
this  educated  Roman  had  given  up  long  ago.  Indeed, 
this  accusation  against  Jesus  senses  him,  on  the  other 
hand,  harshly  and  mockingly  to  throw  his  rope  around 
the  accusers.  He  forces  them  to  bind  themselves  un- 
reservedly to  the  Roman  emperor  and  to  forego  all  their 
Messianic  hope.  ''  We  have  no  king  but  Csesar!  "  ex- 
presses their  decision. 

Pilate  was  obliged  to  confirm  his  opinion  that  he 
finds  not  the  least  guilt  in  Jesus,  and  that  there  is 
nothing  against  Him  except  this :  that  He  means  to 
be  the  Messiah,  the  Savior  of  the  world,  the  friend  and 
helper  of  publicans  and  sinners,  who  intends  anything 
rather  than  the  overthrow  of  all  existing  conditions. 
The  Jews  say:  "  We  have  a  law,  and  by  that  law  He 
ought  to  die. ' '  For  this  Pilate  cares  nothing.  But 
Him  whom  neither  God's  Word  and  law,  nor  the  grace 
ruling  Israel  for  ages,  have  prcte(5led,  the  independence 
of  the  Roman  judge,  the  real  man  in  power  in  the 
Jewish  land,  does  not  now  protedl.  Not  a  legal  error, 
but  fear  of  men  and  a  courting  of  the  favor  of  men 
bring  about  this,  the  greatest  infringement  of  justice 
which   ever   happened,   for  by  it  Divine   and  human 

226 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


right  were  trampled  under  feet.  By  a  dream  God 
warns  Pilate  ;  this  does  not  help  a  man  who,  perhaps, 
cared  the  more  for  such  things  because  he  cared 
nothing  for  the  truth.  Only  the  earthly  realities  im- 
pose upon  this  realist.  When  he  had  yielded  already 
so  far  that,  granting  the  customary  release  of  a  pris- 
oner at  the  Easter  time,  he  had  left  to  the  people  the 
choice  between  Jesus  (whom,  as  he  said,  they  regarded 
as  the  Messiah — a  sign  how  little  he  thought  of 
the  Messianic  hope)  and  a  murderer,  taken  in  an 
insurrecftion,  then  he  had  indeed  committed  himself. 
Israel  stood  fast  by  its  hatred.  The  priests  went  about 
and  stirred  the  people  to  cry  :  "  Away  with  this  man, 
and  release  unto  us  Barabbas  !  Crucify,  crucify  Jesus  ! 
His  blood  be  on  us  and  on  our  children  !  ' '  Pilate 
lacked  the  courage  to  step  back,  altho  he  had  sufficient 
power  to  do  so.  "  If  thou  release  this  man,  thou  art 
not  Caesar's  friend."  This  word  had  its  effec5l.  Jesus 
stood  before  him  as  a  man  given  up  on  all  sides,  as  a 
rebel,  and  in  the  face  of  the  repeated  outcry  which  de- 
manded the  crucifixion  it  cost  him  now  no  special 
compundlion  to  pronounce  the  sentence  of  death  and 
to  order  its  execution.  Pilate,  besides  Jesus  the  only 
representative  of  right  still  remaining,  is  now  obliged 
to  disgrace  the  solemn  form  of  the  sentence  of  the 
judge,  set  in  power  to  preserve  the  right,  and  to  wash 
his  hands  (as  he  is  constrained  to  say,  in  innocence), 
and  thereby  make  up  the  measure  of  the  lie. 

Jews  and  Gentiles  arrive  at  the  same  end.  Those 
do  not  wish  for  the  truth  which  testifies  against  us 
all  and  yet  alone  can  save  us,  these  do  not  care  for 
it.     If  ever  a  wTong  which  cried  to  Heaven  was  done 

227 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

clearly  and  undoubtedly,  it  was  here.  If  ever  a 
sentence  was  a  lie,  it  was  this.  Jesus,  however,  bears 
it  in  silence.  He  is  silent,  God  Himself  is  silent ; 
nothing  and  nobody  speaks  for  Him  against  whom  all 
have  conspired,  whom  God  and  the  world  forsook  and 
gave  up.  "  All  we  like  sheep  have  gone  astray,  and 
the  Lord  hath  laid  on  Him  the  iniquity  of  us  all.  As 
a  lamb  that  is  led  to  the  slaughter,  and  as  a  sheep  that 
before  her  shearers  is  dumb;  yea.  He  opened  not  His 
mouth."  Or  should  now  take  place  the  only  thing 
upon  which  one  could  yet  depend — the  judgment  ?  For 
**God  speaks  not,  but  He  judges,"  say  our  people. 
But  God's  hand  did  not  stretch  out  from  the  clouds. 
It  w^as  God's  counsel  that  Jesus  should  empty  the  cup 
of  unrighteousness  and  death  to  the  last  drop,  that 
judgment  may  not  intervene. 

The  sentence  must  be  quickly  executed  ;  this  relig- 
ion demands,  which  has  now  completely  sunk  down  to 
the  pale  ' '  semblance  of  a  godly  nature. "  It  is  the 
Passover.  The  Jews  can  not  become  ceremonially  un- 
clean, and  they  would  like  to  celebrate  the  Passover 
in  remembrance  of  the  past  and  promised  deliverance. 
The  servile,  supre??tum,  cradeh'ssimiim  teterriimimque 
supplicium,  appointed  for  outlawed  slaves,  highway 
robbers,  counterfeiters,  seditious  persons,  those  guilty 
of  high  treason,  the  most  cruel  and  most  disgraceful 
sentence  of  death  by  the  cross,  was  demanded  for  Him 
and  decreed  for  Him.  For  a  sign  that  He  w^as  es- 
teemed nothing  better  than  a  common  criminal,  for 
whom  there  should  be  no  more  room  on  earth,  He 
was,  as  the  prophecy  had  predicated,  reckoned  with 
transgressors,  and  with  two  robbers  He  was  led  to  the 

228 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


place  of  execution,  forced  to  carry  His  cross  Himself, 
as  He  once  had  indicated  to  His  disciples  and  to  those 
who  should  become  such.  Only  when  He  sunk  under 
the  burden  a  free  Israelite  who  just  came  along  the 
way  was  forced  to  carry  the  cross  for  Him — a  sign  of 
what  the  chosen  people  of  God  had  to  expecft  from  the 
world-power  into  whose  hands  they  have  irrevocably 
surrendered  themselves  with  the  rejecSlion  of  the  Mes- 
siah, 

If  the  inconstancy  of  the  multitude,  that  in  its 
hatred  of  the  truth  has  a  heart  for  everything  but  for 
the  goodness  and  severity  of  God,  has  brought  about 
the  sentence  of  death,  now  the  Lord  meets,  in  the  weep- 
ing women  who  stand  by  the  way  and  bewail  Him, 
with  that  undecided  sentimentality  which  is  full  of 
the  tears  of  feeling  but  not  of  penitence,  and  which 
delights  in  the  horrible.  It  became  an  occasion  for 
Jesus  to  reveal  to  Jerusalem  the  future,  not  so  much 
by  threatening  the  incessantly  impending  judgment, 
but  by  expressing  His  grief  over  this  judgment.  For 
on  the  way  to  death  Jesus  thinks  not  of  Himself,  but 
of  His  people  and  His  people's  guilt. 

The  rude  compassion  of  the  executioner's  servants 
offers  to  Him  a  stupefying  drink  at  the  place  of  execu- 
tion, which  Jesus,  however,  refuses,  for  the  uncon- 
sciousness of  stupefadlion  is  not  that  surrender  of  the 
will  in  love  through  which  He  was  to  suffer  accord- 
ing to  the  will  of  the  Father,  and  was  not  the  obe- 
dience which  He  would  and  needs  must  render.  Even 
now,  even  there  also,  as  He  indeed  hung  on  the  cross, 
He  would  have  been  able  to  help  Himself  if  He  only 
wanted,  and  so  could  have  triumphed  over  those  who 

229 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

mocked  Him  as  the  crucified  One,  the  powerless,  the 
Man  forsaken  of  God,  who  had  meant  to  be  the  Mes- 
siah. But  no  ;  He  wished  to  feel  the  pain  and  dis- 
tress and  mockery  which  went  to  His  soul,  and  suffer 
and  endure  it  with  a  full,  clear  consciousness.  No 
one,  however,  understood  the  mystery  of  His  weak- 
ness. 

In  full  perception  of  the  wrong  which  was  done  to 
Him,  and  in  the  new  pain  of  His  wounds.  He  gives 
expression  at  the  very  beginning  of  His  sufferings  on 
the  cross  to  that  which  His  soul  desires  for  the  world 
which  did  this  to  Him.  Or  shall  we,  with  Bernhard 
Weiss,  regard  the  seven  words  on  the  cross  as  a  fic- 
tion of  the  evangelists,  sincerely  conceived  and  adlually 
felt  to  be  true,  which  no  language  of  Jesus  had  really 
warranted  ?  But  the  reasons  which  he  assigns  for  it 
contain  such  little  proof  and  are  so  purely  *  *  reasona- 
ble ' '  that  only  a  critique  which  is  at  a  loss  for  reasons 
can  acknowledge  them.  For  whence  does  Weiss  know 
that,  as  in  our  time,  so  then  also  * '  the  place  had 
been  shut  off  by  the  executioners,"  and  that  "no 
one  of  His  adherents  among  the  multitude,  to  which 
every  access  had  to  be  refused,  could  by  any  means 
have  been  an  ear-witness  of  the  outbreathed  prayer 
which  came  from  His  lips  ' '  ?  What  does  it  mean  when 
it  is  said  that  that  *  *  which  took  place  in  the  soul  of 
Jesus  amidst  these  tortures  can,  upon  the  whole,  hardly 
be  put  into  words, ' '  and  that  it  '  *  certainly  was  not  the 
method  of  Jesus,  who  had  enjoined  upon  His  follow- 
ers that  they  should  pra}^  in  the  inner  chamber,  to  show 
to  His  executioners  that  in  praying  to  His  Father  He 
has  now  overcome  the  severest  trial,   and  that  not 

230 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


His  own  fate  filled  His  soul,  but  the  merciful  love 
which  seeks  and  saves  that  which  is  lost  "  ?  A  criti- 
cism which  operates  with  such  arguments,  and  from 
its  own  consciousness  constru(5ls  what  took  place  in 
the  soul  of  Jesus  in  order  to  interpret  the  words  of 
Jesus  as  unhistorical,  and  at  the  same  time  to  give  to 
the  feelings  of  the  believing  congregation  a  certain 
satisfa(5lion,  condemns  itself.  We  can  simply  let  it 
alone. 

Jesus  remembers  the  w^orld  which  brought  Him  to 
the  cross  and  those  who  have  now  crucified  Him,  but 
not  in  anger,  not,  moreover,  in  weak,  affedlionate  com- 
passion, but  in  love,  in  a  love  without  comparison,  in 
mercy,  which  intercedes  for  mercy  on  those  who  de- 
serve it  not.  He  prays  for  them  with  a  word  which 
comprehends  their  guilt  and  the  excuse  for  it,  to  im- 
plore pardon  for  them  and  the  forgiveness  of  their 
sins.  For  He  would  rather  suffer,  suffer  everything, 
than  that  this  sin,  and  thereby  all  sin,  should  be 
imputed  to  the  world.  So  deeply  has  He  penetrated 
and  comprehended  the  power  with  which  sin  binds 
men,  notwithstanding  His  profound  severity  and  their 
disregard  for  His  testimony  to  the  truth.  He  neverthe- 
less has  an  excuse  for  them,  tho  they  have  none  for 
themselves.  Their  very  ignorance  is  sin  :  the  sin  of 
the  people,  the  sin  of  its  chiefs — they  were  all  trait- 
ors and  murderers  of  the  Holy  and  Just  One — and 
the  sin  of  the  soldiers,  whose  acflion  was  also  only  an 
emanation  from  their  heathenism,  and  thus  of  their 
sins,  altho  they  knew  it  not.  "Now,  brethren," 
says  Peter  afterward  to  his  people,  "I  wot  that  in 
ignorance  ye  did  it  " ;  and  Paul  writes  concerning  the 

231 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

chief  offenders,  that  they  had  not  known  the  secret 
hidden  wisdom  of  God,  for  if  they  had  known  it,  they 
"  would  not  have  crucified  the  I^ord  of  glory."  But  it 
was  sin,  great  sin,  and  it  put  upon  them  a  guilt  which 
they  could  not  bear,  just  as  afterward,  in  reference  to 
his  persecution  of  the  congregation,  Saul  could  say 
that  he  did  it  in  ignorance,  but  nevertheless,  because 
he  did  it,  calls  himself  a  chief  among  sinners.  With 
His  words,  "  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not 
what  they  do,"  the  crucified  One,  immediately  He 
is  crucified,  interposes  that  this  greatest  of  all  capital 
crimes  be  not  visited  upon  the  race  and  the  judg- 
ment not  take  place  which,  according  to  Divine 
right  and  moral  necessity,  ought  now  to  come  upon 
the  world.  For  thus  was  the  radical  contrast  now  ex- 
posed :  On  the  one  side,  the  side  of  Jesus,  there 
was  right,  not  only  the  right  which  the  sinner  also 
has  when  he  suffers  wrong,  but  right  absolute,  noth- 
ing but  right,  the  highest,  the  everlasting  right.  On 
the  other  side,  however,  the  people's  side,  and  w^e 
can  say  it  of  the  whole  world  now  as  well  as  then, 
there  w^as  and  is  nothing  but  wrong;  for  over  against 
Jesus  we  are  all  nothing  but  wrong,  and  it  avails 
nothing  to  turn  away  from  such  a  confession  for  the 
sake  of  the  pretended  scientific  method  and  so-called 
objedlivity  of  the  inquiry.  The  inquiry  can  be  con- 
ducted satisfactorily,  the  real  importance  of  Christ 
can  be  known  and  acknowledged,  only  by  throwing 
into  the  scale  our  own  share  in  the  matter.  But 
so  great  and  terrible  was  and  is  this  wrong  that  only 
a  step  remains  into  the  horrid,  bottomless  depth  of 
eternal  sin  and  eternal  perdition — the  sin  of  reje(5ting 
232 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


this  love  with  which  the  crucified  has  obtained  and 
effedled  for  us  not  only  respite  but  mercy.  That  sin, 
however,  to  preserve  the  world  from  which  was  the 
desire  of  Jesus,  could  and  can  only  be  committed  after 
the  mystery  of  His  suffering  has  become  manifest. 

After  Jesus  has  acknowledged  us  fully  with  this 
prayer  and  put  himself  wholly  on  our  side,  one  person 
only  has  the  courage  to  profess  Him,  and  he  is  incited 
to  it  through  his  misery.  This  one,  however,  is  an  out- 
cast of  our  race,  one  of  the  robbers  who  were  crucified 
with  Him.  The  representatives  of  godliness,  author- 
it3%  and  law,  and  the  other  thief,  who  had  trampled 
the  law  under  foot,  unite  to  mock  the  crucified  Jesus, 
whose  weakness  they  regard  as  being  at  last  unmasked, 
and  think  not  what  it  means.  Even  now  Jesus  could 
have  helped  Himself,  but — at  the  price  of  a  lost  world. 
This  nobody  divines.  Then  one  of  the  malefadlors 
bears  witness  to  Him,  testifies  of  His  innocence,  and 
acknowledges  His  Messiahship.  Whence  does  he 
know  both  ?  He  knows  the  world  ;  he  knows  how 
cold-bloodedly  it  can  do  wrong,  and  how  it  does  it  a 
thousand  times;  no  one  knows  it  better  than  one  whom 
it  rightly  judges.  He  knows  men,  and  believes  and 
trusts  them  once  more,  and  thinks  them  all  invariably 
like  himself,  tho  in  their  deeds  they  may  still  be 
different.  But  Jesus  who,  in  this  moment,  has  not 
cursed  the  world  and  His  murderers,  but  prayed  for 
them — ^Jesus  is  not  like  them.  In  such  a  distress  as 
that  in  which  the  malefadlor  is,  who  receives  the  due 
reward  of  his  deeds,  Jesus  alone  can  help  ;  He  is  the 
Messiah,  and  the  malefadlor  is  convinced  that  Jesus 
will  yet  some  day  be  manifest  in  glory.     In  Him  alone 

233 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY        ^ 

he  believes,  and  he  ventures  the  petition  for  a  merci- 
ful remembering  on  the  day  of  the  future  when  He 
shall  come  with  His  Kingdom.  He  is  wholly  un- 
concerned as  to  w^hether  any  of  the  scribes  will  blame 
him  for  that.  No  one  had  any  compassion  for  him 
anyhow,  and  he  desired  none.  Jesus,  however,  exerts 
on  him  His  Savior-love  above  all  that  he  asked  or 
thought,  forgives  him  all  his  sins  and  all  his  guilt, 
pardons  him,  and  promises  him  that  on  that  very 
day  when  they  both  were  suffering  they  should  taste 
the  blessedness  and  glory  of  restored  innocence  in  the 
paradise  of  God.  He  is  the  Savior,  the  deliverer  and 
pitier  of  those  who  are  lost  and  perish.  This  He  wnll 
be  and  continue  to  be  also  in  death — yes,  in  the  very 
hour  of  death.  Or,  should  this  word  of  the  dying 
Jesus  have  been  invented,  be  an  "ingenious,  deeply 
felt"  ficftion  which  is  yet  truth,  who  had  venhired  to 
think  it  out  f 

While  Jesus  exercises  His  indestrudlible  seigniorial 
right  in  unfathomable  mercy,  the  servants  disposed  of 
the  only  thing  which  He  possessed  in  this  world — 
His  clothes,  and  cast  lots  for  His  coat.  Tho  still  alive, 
He  is  treated  like  one  dead.  He  was,  indeed,  irrevoca- 
bly lost ;  and  thus  they  fulfil,  without  having  an  idea 
of  what  they  do,  in  terrible  literalness,  what  the  Scrip- 
ture says  of  the  suffering  of  a  servant  of  God  perse- 
cuted and  smitten  like  Jesus.  This  Scripture  has 
deemed  it  worthy  to  record  such  a  suffering  of  a 
ser\^ant  of  God  who,  tho  living,  is  treated  as  dead,  and 
who  must  look  helplessly  upon  that  which  is  done  with 
His  belongings. 

To  be  sure,  as  to  the  life  which  He  has  hitherto 

234 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


lived,  it  is  now  over.  This  He  attests  Himself  by 
giving  John  to  his  mother  as  a  son,  and  his  mother  to 
John,  to  whom  John  was  to  render  a  son's  duty  and  a 
son's  love.  For  His  cross  establishes  a  new  commu- 
nion which  reaches  far  beyond  the  bond  of  blood 
that  otherwise  keeps  men  together.  To  this  day  it 
indeed  remains  that  those  who  find  themselves  under 
the  cross  of  their  Eord  and  Savior,  as  those  who  live 
through  Him  and  through  Him  only,  by  their  com- 
mon sentiment  belong  together  forever  in  a  sense  in 
which  brothers  and  sisters  can  not  at  all  belong 
together. 

The  world  has  cast  Him  out,  the  Father  hid  His 
face  from  Him,  and  left  Him  in  the  hands  of  His  ene- 
mies. He  experiences  what  it  means  to  belong  to  a 
world  from  which,  wdth  its  sin,  the  Father  must  turn 
away  His  face.  This  is  the  suffering  of  His  soul, 
which  He  must  bear  on  account  of  a  world  that  He 
loves  and  that  He  would  save  from  the  angry  judg- 
ment of  God.  The  world  has  nothing  left  for  Him 
but  hatred,  and  treats  Him  as  it  pleases.  The  disci- 
ples have  given  Him  up  in  despair,  and  have  become 
puzzled  and  baffled  ;  this  is  their  sin  and  His  greatest 
sorrow.  God,  however,  hides  His  face  before  all 
this  sin  and  the  world  which  commits  it,  for  His 
eyes  are  so  pure  that  He  can  not  see  evil.  He  hides 
His  face  from  Jesus  also,  who  belongs  and  will  belong 
to  this  w^orld,  who  will  not  break  loose  nor  be  released 
from  it,  and  must  therefore  bear  with  it  whatever  it 
deserves.  He  experiences  what  this  means  when  sin 
has  reached  its  climax  and  God  now  withdraws  His 
hand.     The  face  of  God,  hidden  from  the  sin  of  the 

235 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

world,  is  now  also  hidden  from  Jesus  ;  Jesus  is  forsaken 
of  God.  Is  this  truth  ?  Can  one  say  this  ?  Yes,  for 
Jesus  Himself  attests  it.  It  is  truth  and  reality.  He 
is  forsaken  of  God  but  He  forsakes  not  God,  there- 
fore is  His  sorrow  so  great.  He  who  can  not  give  up 
the  world  can  as  little  give  up  the  Father.  Thus 
Jesus  tastes  and  empties  the  whole  cup  oi  suffering  to 
the  dregs  as  never  a  man  before  has  so  drunk  it. 
What  is  otherwise  the  misery  of  the  lost,  that  which' 
is  suffered  by  them  with  inmost  revolt.  He  bears, 
and  yet  remains  true  at  once  to  the  world  and  the 
Father.  This  forces  to  His  lips  the  words  of  the 
twenty-second  Psalm,  which  so  truly  became  a  Psalm 
of  His  suffering  :  ''  My  God,  My  God,  why  hast  Thou 
forsaken  Me  ?  "  It  is  not  as  if  He  despaired  of  God 
and  God's  government  and  rule,  not  as  if  He  could 
not  bear  more  than  He  now  has  to  bear  ;  He  bears  it 
indeed.  He  knows  that  it  is  God's  government  and 
rule  which  put  this  suffering  upon  Him.  He  knows 
that  His  prayer  in  Gethsemane  is  heard  by  the  Father, 
altho  He  could  not  grant  it.  Now  He  prays  ^s  one 
whom  even  this  suffering  of  His  deeply  distressed  soul, 
even  this  complete  separation  from  God,  can  not  induce 
to  discard  God,  to  do  as  of  old  Job's  wife  advised 
her  husband  :  *'  Bless  God  and  die  !  "  Thou  art,  nev- 
ertheless, my  God  ! — to  this  He  adheres.  He  knows 
the  answer  to  such  lamentation,  and  the  confidence 
with  which  the  singer  of  the  twenty-second  Psalm 
closes  is  also  His  confidence,  and  He  will  die  in  it. 
For  the  time  being,  however.  He  must  vStruggle  in 
order  to  hold  fast  the  confidence  of  His  faith.  Th'^.t 
He  is  forsaken  of  God  is  a  fadl.  The  question  of 
236 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


Jesus  seeks  the  answer,  and  is  the  prayer  of  One  who 
has  no  one  else  but  just  this  Father  to  whom  He  can 
commend  Himself  and  His  cause,  and  on  whom  He 
must  wait  till  He  speaks  or  a<5ls. 

Elsewhere  even  rudeness  keeps  quiet  when  it  meets 
one  marked  with  Cain's  sign.  Here  at  the  sight  of 
the  crucified  Jesus  it  keeps  not  quiet.  It  mocks  Him 
who  moans,  of  whose  agony  it  has  no  idea,  and  speaks 
as  if  Jesus  had  turned  away  from  God,  had  surrendered 
Himself  and  His  Messiah-consciousness,  and  only  ad- 
hered to  it  so  far  as  to  summon  the  prophet  Elijah  to 
be  His  helper  in  need.  Yes,  they  deride  their  own 
Messiah- faith,  according  to  wdiich  Elijah  was  to  come 
before  the  Messiah  to  settle  all  disputes  and  restore 
peace  in  Israel.  Jesus,  however,  through  the  suffer- 
ing of  the  cross,  despaired  neither  of  Himself  nor  of 
His  Father.  On  the  contrary,  He  knows  that  the 
Scripture  is  now  fulfilled  and  the  salvation-counsel  of 
God  has  arrived  at  its  goal.  Unconfounded,  He  yet 
humbles  Himself  so  far  as  to  ask  these  men  who  guard 
His  cross  and  heartlessly  look  at  His  suffering  for 
a  refreshing  drink  ;  He  leaves  it,  how^ever,  to  them  to 
decide  if  they  shall  listen  to  Hiscrj^  "  I  thirst!  "  He 
receives  the  refreshment,  not,  however,  from  compas- 
sion, but  from  mockery.  Now,  however,  He  attests 
wnth  a  loud  voice  that  which  His  soul  did  desire,  and 
for  what  He  lived  His  whole  life.  The  counsel  of 
God,  the  Word  of  Scripture,  the  work  of  God,  the 
work  of  redemption,  it  is  finished  !  His  task  is  done, 
for  in  His  death  the  judgment  is  averted  from  His 
people  and  the  world.  Now  He  commends  Himself 
to  the  Father,  to  the  God,  who  resolved  and  promised 

237 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  redemption  and  sent  the  Redeemer.  He  gives  up 
His  soul  thereby  to  free  many  from  judgment  and 
destru(5lion.  His  blood,  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God, 
is  shed  for  many,  for  all,  for  He  died  that  they  might 
be  spared  and  forgiven.  ''God  was  in  Christ  recon- 
ciling the  vv^orld  unto  Himself,  not  reckoning  unto 
them  their  trespasses. ' ' 

Darkness  already  for  hours  had  covered  the  whole 
country,  altho  it  was  bright  day,  and  the  sun  and  the 
moon  stood  in  the  heavens,  as  it  shall  happen  once 
again,  according  to  the  prophecy  of  Joel,  when  God 
comes  for  judgment.  Jesus  gave  up  the  ghost,  and 
the  earth  did  quake,  the  rocks  were  rent,  and  the 
tom^bs  were  opened,  as  if  the  last  day,  the  resurrecftion- 
day  of  all  the  dead  had  come.  But  it  was  only  the 
latest  or  the  last  day  of  the  Old  Covenant.  Instead  of 
judging  and  destroying  the  world,  as  it  deserved,  God 
caused  Jesus,  His  Son,  to  die,  and  reckoned  not  unto 
the  world  its  sin. 

Thus  Jesus  finished  His  work.  Suffering  was  from 
the  beginning  His  life.  His  way  through  this  world, 
fallen  into  sin  and  death.  His  business  was  the  setting 
forth  of  the  Word,  which  was  only  received  and  ac- 
cepted by  few,  and  was  again  given  up  by  these  few 
in  the  hour  of  crisis.  He  had  known  how  to  speak 
a  kindly  word  at  the  right  time  to  the  murderer.  He 
had  invited  the  weary  and  heavy  laden  to  Himself 
in  order  to  quicken  them,  and  He  had  shown  every- 
where, and  again  and  again,  that  He  came  to  seek  and 
to  save  that  which  was  lost.  He  wrought  miracles, 
unmistakable  signs,  to  show  that  at  the  proper  time 
in  the  power  of  God  He  would  change  and  transform 

238 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


the  whole  world  into  a  new  world.  But  all  this  had 
been  in  vain.  As  soon  as  Israel's  authority  com- 
menced to  be  against  Him  in  earnest  no  mouth  opened 
any  more  to  bear  witness  to  Him,  to  declare  that 
'never  man  so  spake  as  this  man,"  and  that  He  is 
the  Messiah — a  testimony  which,  born  of  their  fear  and 
terror,  He  would  not  accept  from  demons,  which  He 
had  refused  when  a  token  of  grateful  and  happy 
faith  from  the  Samaritan  woman.  His  day  was  over, 
night  had  come.  Jesus  could  only  suffer,  do  nothing 
but  suffer  unto  death.  This  was  the  deepest  depth  of 
of  His  self-humiliation  with  which  His  advent  into 
the  world  commenced.  This  by  necessity  implied  that 
He,  the  eternal  God,  had  bound  Himself  to  men  in 
space  and  time  in  order  to  carry  them  over  into  a  happy 
eternity  ;  He  had  to  suffer  death  from  men  and  for 
them — and  what  a  death  !  He  was  able,  with  a  word, 
nay,  not  even  with  a  word,  but  adlually  withoiit  a 
word,  with  but  a  look  of  His  eyes,  with  an  emotion  of 
His  will,  to  hurl  from  Him  and  into  the  dust  all  His 
foes  :  the  whole  power  of  Israel  and  Rome,  the  great, 
yes,  the  greatest  power  of  the  world,  and  to  triumph 
over  all  those  who  had  laid  hold  on  Him,  whether 
with  works  or  words  or  thoughts.  But  He  did  it  not. 
His  way  was  a  straight  way.  He  went  from  resigna- 
tion to  resignation.  He  suffered  and  died  in  our  behalf. 
This  is  the  meaning  of  that  momentous  event  which 
happened  there  in  the  corner  in  Judea — the  greatest  in 
the  history  of  the  world.  Never  before  and  nowhere 
else  as  long  as  the  world  has  stood,  and,  aside  from  a 
short  moment  at  the  end  of  days,  never  again  as  long 
as  the  world  shall  stand,  were  or  shall  be  contrasts  so 

239 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

clearly,  so  completely  set  over  against  each  other.  On 
the  one  side,  a  man  who  wholly  and  entirely  lived  for 
the  objedl  of  God's  great  love,  and  wished  nothing 
but  to  save  men  from  that  which  ruins  the  highest 
and  the  humblest  of  their  attainments,  the  best  works 
of  their  art  and  the  rudest  monuments  of  their  desire 
— from  sin,  and  with  sin  death.  This  one  was  and  is 
Jesus — Jesus,  the  eternal  Savior.  It  is  not  His  own 
holy  life,  not  the  complete  realization  of  the  moral 
ideal,  not  the  indescribable  and  unfathomable  fidelity 
and  humility  of  His  faith,  nor  the  confidence  of  His 
trust  in  God,  in  which  He  stands  before  us  and  offers 
Himself  to  us,  but  it  is  His  saving  love.  God  Him- 
self offers  to  us  in  this  dying  Jesus  the  saving  hand. 
Over  against  Him  stands  the  multitude,  the  people 
of  God,  Israel  as  well  as  the  Gentile  world,  all  one  in 
this  :  we  will  not  that  this  Man  reign  over  us.  The 
disciples  w^ho  once  believed  are  intimidated  and  in 
despair.  Jesus  would  help,  but  so  great  are  sin  and 
guilt  that  He  can  not  help.  Now  we  are  lost  !  This 
was  their  thought.  Jesus  is  not  the  Savior,  and  God 
can  not  have  mercy  !  If  ever  a  critical  point  existed 
in  history  it  is  now.  Can  God  help,  or  can  He  only 
judge  and  punish?  Why  did  He  permit  the  dying  of 
Jesus?  Why  has  He  not  interfered?  It  was  so 
entirely  different  from  every  ordinary  situation.  Much 
blood — an  almost  infinite  outpoor — has  been  unjustly 
shed  since  the  blood  of  Abel,  and  the  martyrs  before 
and  after  Jesus  have  patiently  suffered  ;  but  all  was 
different,  nevertheless,  in  the  case  of  Jesus.  Here 
w^as,  as  w^e  said,  all  right  and  nothing  but  right  on 
Jesus'  part,  the  right  which  His  calling  gave  Him  to 

240 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUvS 


love,  to  suffer,  and  to  save,  and  the  power,  neverthe- 
less, to  be  able  to  have  it  otherwise  without  wronging 
anyone.  Jesus  could  help  Himself  and  judge  tlie  world, 
but  did  it  not.  The  martyrs  also  could  have  helped 
themselves,  but  only  through  sin,  only  by  denying  the 
truth.  When  they  denied  not,  but  patiently  suffered 
and  died,  not  wath  a  curse  and  an  imprecation  against 
their  enemies  on  their  lips  and  in  their  hearts,  but  with 
a  supplication  for  them,  it  was  for  the  good  of  their 
enemies,  yet  only  in  so  far  as  God's  patience  still  de- 
layed judgment  upon  them  till  the  last  day.  To  inter- 
pose really,  to  suffer  so  that  the  others  might  not 
be  judged,  this  neither  they  could  do  nor  any  one  else 
of  all  those  who  must  finally  die  as  heirs  of  sinners 
and  also  for  their  own  sin.  For  themselves  and  for 
their  enemies  they  could  only  hope  in  a  Redeemer 
and  wait  until  He  came.  But  Jesus — why  had  He  to 
die?  Why  did  God  allow  Him  to  die  to  wdiom  He 
had  professed  Himself  at  His  baptism  and  a  few  days 
afterward,  and  before  His  suffering,  at  the  transfigura- 
tion ?  Was  everything  over  now%  every  hope  of  men 
in  a  Savior  and  Redeemer  cut  off?  Or  did  it  need, 
perhaps,  only  the  recollecftion  of  His  w^ord  concerning 
the  Kingdom  and  the  love  of  God  the  Father  for  the 
infinite  worth  of  a  human  soul  and  the  pracflise  of 
love,  in  order  that  w^e  do  not  despair,  but  rather  be 
strengthened  by  the  courage  of  Jesus  and  by  His  fate, 
which  has  led  Him  into  a  higher,  better,  tlio,  to  us,  in- 
conceivable existence  ?  I  fear  that  no  one  would  be  able 
to  have  the  courage  to  believe  for  himself  that  wdiich 
he  must  believe  of  Jesus  !  * '  Whither  shall  I  flee  be- 
cause I  am  burdened  w^ith   many  and  great  sins  ? ' ' 

241 


THE  ESSENCE  OK  CHRISTIANITY 

Whoever  must  pray  thus  is  not  helped  by  such  reflec- 
tions !  And,  further,  to  what  end,  then,  was  His 
dying  necessary  ?  Did  the  ' '  must ' '  in  the  words  of 
Jesus  spring  only  from  human  limitation  or  from  a 
perception  of  Divine  necessity  ?  And  if  the  latter  was 
the  case,  what  was  this  necessity?  Was  it  such  a 
necessity  as  we  have  shown — either  His  death,  His 
dying,  or  our  judgment,  our  destrudlion  ? 

It  is  impossible  really  to  be  assured  of  God's  grace, 
except  in  the  thought  of  Jesus'  blessed  faith  and  ac- 
complished life.  We  are  lost  if  Jesus'  death  means 
merely  a  victory  of  evil,  or  merely  the  still  greater 
victory  of  the  only  good  One  permitting  Himself  not 
to  be  alienated  from  His  God,  whom  He  serves,  from 
the  peace  of  God  which  is  for  Him  a  counter- w^eight  to 
the  sorrow  of  the  world,  and  from  the  effort  to  pave  a 
way  for  God  among  men — in  w^hich,  as  a  matter  of 
fa(5l,  he  has  failed.  Jesus'  dying  must  mean  some- 
thing far  different,  must  mean  what  we  already  stated. 
But  zvhereby  was  this  to  be  known  f 

If  ever  the  decisive  judgment  of  God  over  the  un- 
righteousness of  the  world,  and  all  blood  unrighteously 
shed  in  it,  was  to  be  expe(5led,  now  was  the  time. 
According  to  all  that  one  may  see  or  hear  of  what  He 
did  and  spoke,  the  only  One  from  whom  help  could 
be  expedled  for  a  world  w^hich  had  lapsed  into  sin  and 
death  had  not  fallen  a  vidlim  to  a  judicial  error  or  to 
a  misunderstanding  or  a  thoughtlessness,  be  it  con- 
ceivable or  inconceivable.  He  was  a  vi6lim  of  conscious 
opposition  to  the  Divine  verdi(5l,  which  He  pronounced; 
to  the  Divine  love,  which  He  declared  and  pra(5lised; 
and  to  the  Divine  demand,  which  He  made.    He  could 

242 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


not  and  would  not  be  a  Messiah  according  the  peo- 
ple's will,  and  still  less  by  grace  of  the  people,  but  ac- 
cording to  God's  will  and  by  the  grace  of  God.  He 
received  not  right  and  honor  from  the  hands  of  men, 
but  lived  in  His  own  right  and  in  the  Father's  right. 
If  Israel  is  that  people  which  not  only  knew  God's 
will,  but  in  which  also  this  will  had  become  law  ;  if 
their  whole  history  had  so  proceeded  that  this  law 
ruled  among  them  and  brought  blessing  upon  the 
people  in  case  of  obedience,  and  a  curse  in  case  of 
apostacy,  then  an  entirely  different  judgment  from  any 
ever  before  known  ought  now  to  commence.  This, 
moreover,  Jesus  had  often  enough  promised,  and  with 
their  smitten  conscience  the  disciples  expe(fted  nothing 
else  even  now.  They  thought  of  the  last  judgment. 
What  Jesus  had  told  them :  that  His  mission  is  not  all 
over  with  His  death,  that  rather  He  will  rise  up  again 
and  return  to  them;  this  they  had  not  at  that  time  un- 
derstood, and  thought  of  it  now  still  less,  since  the 
fadl  of  His  death  and  the  triumph  of  His  enemies 
pressed  upon  them.  Jesus  had  aroused  in  them  the 
greatest,  most  fervent,  and  the  most  joyous  hopes ; 
now  these  hopes  were  all  dead. 

What  the  disciples  had  not  remembered,  the  oppo- 
nents, however,  had  not  forgotten.  Moved  by  fear 
for  the  otherwise  so  insignificant  company  of  His  ad- 
herents, they  appointed  keepers  for  the  tomb,  and 
sealed  the  stone  to  prevent  a  removal  of  the  corpse 
and  the  possible  tale  that  Jesus  was  risen.  But  in 
vain.  The  justice  of  God  delayed  not,  but  manifested 
itself  in  a  wondrous  manner.  If  Jesus  was  the  Christ 
of  God,  then  this  must  needs  come  to  pass  which  at 

243 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

all  times  had  been  the  hope  of  the  oppressed,  and 
which  in  their  hard,  inward  struggle  they  had  never 
abandoned,  which  the  Psalms  testify  and  which  the 
prophets  had  proclaimed  as  the  final  triumph  of  God's 
cause  and  of  God's  ser\^ants.  A  Divine  crisis  was  un- 
avoidable. The  death  of  Jesus  without  any  further 
results  than  His  translation  into  an  upper,  better, 
peaceful  world  bej^ond  the  grave,  was  a  giving  up  of 
the  world  to  its  sin  and  to  death.  That  Jesus,  being 
without  sin,  shall  live  on  in  a  higher,  better  world  is 
unquestioned.  That  is  not  to  say,  however,  that  this 
world  is  now  opened  also  to  them  who  would  never  be 
like  Jesus.  It  speaks  for  the  great  historical  faithful- 
ness of  our  records  that,  according  to  them,  not  one  of 
the  disciples,  after  the  death  of  Jesus,  conceived  the 
idea  that  He  and  they  would  continue  to  live  after 
death.  They  waited  for  a  Divine  crisis — nay,  they 
waited  not;  they  knew,  indeed,  that  ever>^thing  was 
lost,  and  themselves  also.  They  only  waited  to  be 
lost.  That  this  would  be  the  decision  was  not  doubt- 
ful to  them.  What  Jesus  had  said  of  the  day  of  His 
coming  again  from  heaven — the  only  thing,  perhaps, 
which  partly,  at  least,  still  remained  in  their  memory — 
gave  them  the  less  comfort,  since  on  their  part  they 
had  not  executed  the  truth  toward  Him, 

Then  happened  that  which  no  eye  has  seen,  which 
is  nevertheless  irrefragably  true  :  Jesus  was  raised  up 
from  the  dead  ;  rose,  through  the  glory  of  the  Father, 
through  the  fulness  of  the  power  and  love  of  God,  in 
which  He  is  to  be  all  that  He  is  for  us — for  our  sake, 
for  our  welfare.  Jesus  returned  into  life,  not  to  die 
again  and  then  forever,  but  as  One  who  He  has  always 

244 


THE  WORK  OF  JKSUS 


been,  the  Messiah,  now  triumphant  over  death,  and 
therefore  no  more  to  be  touched  by  it.  Now  existed 
for  Him  no  more  any  bounds,  since  He  has  overcome 
death;  now  He  could  a(5lively  assert  for  us  His  eternal 
Divine  essence  as  our  brother,  for  He  belonged  and 
belongs  to  us  and  has  returned  in  order  to  be  ours  for- 
ever, to  share  everything  with  us,  whose  misery  and 
distress  and  judgment  He  has  taken  upon  Himself  and 
has  overcome.  The  resurrecftiou  was  His  justification. 
God  attested  it  to  Him  and  to  His  own,  and  attests  it 
to  all  who  experience  that  the  living  Jesus  deals  with 
them  and,  through  the  Holy  Ghost,  Himself  pleads  His 
cause  with  us,  and  shows  us  that  He  is  really  and  for- 
ever the  Messiah,  the  King,  the  Savior,  and  Helper. 

To  the  women  and  disciples  who  came  to  the  tomb 
the  fadl  was  made  known  through  God's  messengers, 
through  angels,  whose  appearance  legitimated  them  as 
messengers  of  God  from  the  upper  world,  and  whose 
words  must  needs  be  made  known  as  w^ords  of  truth 
through  their  agreement  with  that  which  Jesus  has 
said  and  through  their  effedl,  in  which  judgment  and 
mercy  united  again  in  a  supermundane,  God-wrought 
union.  Nevertheless,  thefirst  effedl  was  only  fear  and 
terror  among  those  who  first  heard  the  message,  as 
well  as  among  those  also  to  whom  they  communi- 
cated it.  That  the  hour  of  crisis  had  come  over  the 
world  was  now  a  matter  of  course,  and  that  it  was  not 
to  bring,  that  it  has  not  brought,  destru(5lion  was  in- 
conceivable to  them.  That  on  account  of  this  expec- 
tation the  faithfulness  of  the  report  is  attested  to  them 
shows  how  human  they  were,  tho  mistaken.  Only 
the   appearance   of  Jesus  Himself  loosened  the   ban 

245 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

which  rested  on  them,  and  confirmed  to  them  His  old, 
often  repeated  word,  now,  however,  more  wondrously 
and  gloriously  revealed  than  they  ever  had  conceived, 
that  He  did  not  come  to  judge  the  world  but  to  save  it. 
Everything  remained  in  the  world  as  it  was,  sin  and 
death  ruled,  and  yet  all  was  different.  They,  the  dis- 
ciples, all  those  who  were  conscious  of  the  resurredlion 
of  Jesus,  were  redeemed.  They  rejoiced  in  the  re- 
demption, the  pardon  which  had  now  fallen  to  their 
lot,  and  from  now  on  they  could  wait  in  God's  peace 
and  with  confidence  for  the  redemption  of  their  body, 
for  the  forthcoming  liberty  of  the  glory  of  the  children 
of  God. 

Now  it  was  clear  to  them  that  Jesus  had  no  need  at 
all  to  die  if  death  could  have  no  power  over  Him, 
that  He  could  have  been  left  to  death  only  by  the  pre- 
meditated counsel  and  will  of  God,  and  that  on  this 
account  His  life,  as  also,  according  to  this  premedi- 
tated counsel  and  will,  His  death,  should  now  be  for 
our  welfare.  With  His  life  the  disciples  had  their 
own  life  again  as  those  delivered  from  perdition.  With 
His  death  the  judgment  over  them,  over  the  world, 
over  us,  had  come  to  an  end.  He  had  died  that  we 
might  not  die  and  perish.  This  was  the  wondrous 
grace  of  God  which  now  concerns  the  whole  world. 
Death  and  what  follows  upon  it  was  God's  judgment; 
it  weighed  on  the  whole  world  as  God's  wrath,  who 
refuses  the  salvation,  not  as  a  punishment  measured 
after  God's  wisdom,  equivalent  to  sin,  but  as  the  self- 
understood  sequence  for  man,  who  would  not  lead 
the  life  that  has  been  given  to  him  by  God  in  and 
according  to  God's  will.     God's  wrath  is,  however, 

246 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


the  purpose  which  denies  us  salvation.  This  wrath 
weighs  on  us.  "  For  we  are  consumed  in  Thine  anger, 
and  in  Thy  wrath  are  we  troubled."  And  it  did 
not  yet  weigh  finally  on  us  and  our  race,  for  God  was 
moved  with  compassion  that  we  should  thus  perish. 
On  this  account  did  He  send  His  Son  that  He  might 
belong  to  us,  and  we  in  Him  might  have  God  and 
everything  that  is  God's.  Therefore,  the  Son  of  God, 
the  King  of  His  Kingdom,  had  to  die  and  still  remain 
ours,  as  is  made  manifest  in  His  resurrection.  Here 
the  whole  gracious  will  of  God  was  definitively  exe- 
cuted. Christ's  death  was  the  sacrifice  which  Jesus 
ofiered,  the  ransom  which  He  paid  for  our  freedom. 
The  Father,  for  our  sakes,  did  not  spare  the  Son  ;  He 
made  Him  to  be  sin  on  our  behalf,  treated  Him  as  if 
not  His  own  Son  but  only  sin  was  before  Him,  that 
we,  whom  God  through  this  exchange  has  restored, 
might  in  Him  become  the  righteousness  of  God. 
Christ's  blood,  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  cleans- 
eth  us  from  all  sin.  In  Him  we  have  indeed  the 
redemption  through  His  blood,  the  forgiveness  of  our 
trespasses  ;  He  is  the  sacrifice  of  the  Lamb  without 
blemish  and  without  spot,  who  has  made  us  free  and 
bought  us  for  His  possession ;  He  is  the  propitiation 
which  God  has  represented  to  us  and  offers  through 
faith  in  His  blood.  The  apostles  never  tire  of  reit- 
erating in  new  terms  the  great  fadl  which  constitutes 
here  our  thesis.  It  is  the  facT;  on  which  from  the 
beginning  and  in  eternity  the  covenant  of  God's  grace 
rests,  and  wdiich,  moreover,  stamped  its  special  mean- 
ing upon  the  whole  Old  Testament  cultus,  in  spite  of 
its   analogy    with    all    other   Divine   service.      What 

247 


THE  KSSENCK  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

the  disciples  now  perceived,  since  they  had  again 
the  crucified  One,  was  the  great  importance  of  His 
cross  :  that  on  it  all  depended  for  them,  that  in  it 
was  completed  everything  that  Christ  is  for  us,  and 
that  this  was  the  true  goal,  moving  toward  which 
He  had  become  ours :  *  *  He  was  obedient  even  unto 
death — yea,  the  death  of  the  cross.  Wherefore  also 
God  highly  exalted  Him."  So  it  is  said  of  the 
crucified  One  who  rose  again  :  * '  God  was  in  Christ 
reconciling  the  world  unto  Himself,  not  reckoning 
unto  them  their  trespasses."  The  suffering  and 
death  of  Christ,  the  crucified  One,  who  rose  again, 
have  acquired  for  us  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  the  grace 
of  God,  communion  with  God.  The  patience  and 
mercy  of  God,  through  which  since  Adam's  fall  men 
have  life,  and  through  which  again  and  again  the 
believers  of  the  Old  Covenant  have  received  forgive- 
ness, they  are  bound  from  the  beginning  to  this  Christ, 
who  suffered,  died,  and  rose  again.  Everything  came 
to  pass  for  the  sake  of  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  Christ, 
the  living  Christ,  who  belongs  to  us  and  therefore  is 
ours,  who  died,  was  crucified  by  the  world,  by  us.  He 
is  the  propitiation  for  our  shis  ;  and  7iot  for  ours  only ^ 
but  also  for  the  whole  world,  and  hereiyi  is  love — not  that 
we  loved  God,  but  that  He  loved  us,  and  sent  His  Son  to 
be  the  propitiatio7i  for  our  si7is.  Who,  therefore,  will 
overcome  the  world's  sin  and  the  world's  sorrow  can 
only  overcome  through  the  blood  of  the  La?}ib. 

Thus  was  solved  for  the  disciples  the  mystery  of  the 
history  of  Jesus,  the  most  mysterious  of  all  histories 
which  have  ever  happened,  and  one  which  to-day  no 
historian  can  pass  by,  unless  for  him  all  mysteries  are 

248 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


comprehended  in  the  reign  of  reason  over  nature,  so 
that  he  sees  them  soh^ed  by  the  "  reason  in  history," 
but  ignores  the  God  in  history.  The  expe(5lations  and 
hopes  till  then  unfulfilled — they  knew  that — would  now 
be  fulfilled.  A  participant  in  glory  through  the  path 
of  His  suffering,  from  glory  He  now  shall  a(5l  on  the 
world  and  for  the  world.  Now  commences  a  new  time 
of  waiting,  but  different  from  the  former  waiting. 
Not  as  in  the  former  manner  did  Jesus  associate  with 
His  own,  altho  He  ate  and  drank  with  them.  But  He 
needed  not  to  do  this.  As  one  who  had  death  behhid 
him,  who  had  overcome  it,  He  now  had  as  a  practical 
proof  of  His  Messiahship  a  completely  unhampered 
and  unlimited  personality.  He  did  not  resume  His 
former  acftivity,  He  wandered  no  more  about  with  His 
disciples  to  offer  Himself  to  Israel,  but  confined  His 
companionship  first  of  all  to  those  who  believed  in 
Him,  that  He  might  so  endow  them  that  they  might 
learn  to  take  into  their  hands  the  preaching  of  the 
Gospel  about  Him,  and  of  the  promise  fulfilled  in 
themselves.  They  were  to  vouch  to  the  whole  world 
that  in  Him,  the  crucified  and  risen  Jesus,  all  the 
promises  of  God  are,  as  Paul  says,  "yea  and  amen," 
that  all  who  believe  in  Him  should,  as  Peter  says, 
have  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  that  He  is  the  Messianic 
King,  the  peace-bringer  of  His  people.  For  from 
man  to  man  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth  should  the 
news  spread  of  Him,  the  vidlor  over  death,  the  Prince 
of  lyife,  who  has  the  keys  of  hell  and  death  ;  from 
man  to  man  the  possession  of  grace  and  of  our  re- 
demption through  belief  in  Him  should  be  propagated. 
This,  indeed,  was  possible,  and  in  this  the  disciples 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

whom  He  had  chosen  could  now  go  forward;  for  where 
the  name  of  Jesus  is  named  there  no  more  is  made 
mention  of  one  dead,  of  a  man  who  once  existed.  Jesus 
Himself  is  present,  and  declares  Himself,  in  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to  all  who  hear  His  testimony.  They 
perceive  the  risen  One,  who  waits  only  that  the  Gospel 
may  be  brought  to  the  lost  people,  that  in  the  course 
of  our  history  He  might  also  return  to  the  lost  people, 
to  declare  Himself  and  to  transform  the  world.  There- 
fore, those  who  believe  in  Him  are  lacking  nothing  as 
compared  with  those  who  saw  Him  with  bodily  eyes. 

Forty  days  lasted  the  association  of  Jesus  with  the 
disciples,  during  which  He  spoke  to  them  of  the 
Kingdom  of  God,  which  was  now  in  the  world,  altho 
the  world  was  not  yet  a  Kingdom  of  God,  and  still  re- 
sisted becoming  such.  Whether  these  were  precisely 
forty  days,  or  whether  this  is  the  round  expression  for 
gix  weeks,  is  wholly  unimportant.  Corresponding  to 
the  duration  of  other  times  in  the  history  of  the  people 
of  God — to  the  forty  days  which  Moses  spent  on  Sinai, 
to  the  forty  days  which  Elijah  needed  till  he  reached 
Horeb,  the  mountain  of  God — this  time  was  spent  by 
Jesus  in  intercourse  with  His  disciples.  He  stands  no 
more  merely  as  one  among  them,  but  is  declared  the 
Savior  of  the  world.  On  this  account,  also.  He  is  no 
more  a  natural  denizen  of  the  earth,  but  appears  from 
time  to  time,  yet  always,  indeed,  only  to  His  own,  who 
were  to  carry  His  name  into  all  the  world.  But,  then, 
the  day  comes  when  He  goes  from  them,  to  be  from 
thence  with  His  Word  wherever  they  proclaim  it,  to 
manifest  Himself  as  God  and  Eord  from  heaven,  and 
as  a  deliverer  and  Savior.     He  goes  from  them  with 

250 


THE  WORK  OF  JESUS 


the  commission  to  preach  to  every  creature,  in  His 
name,  repentance  and  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  to  apply 
the  forgiveness  to  men  through  baptism.  This  is  now 
no  more,  as  with  John,  a  merely  warranting  symbol, 
but  symbol  and  reality  at  the  same  time,  washing  awaj' 
the  guilt  of  sin.  The  congregation  that  begins  with 
them  continues,  as  we  see  in  the  choice  of  Barnabas  and 
Paul,  and  is  to  continue  it  to  the  end  ;  and  that  which 
the  congregation  says  and  which  is  under  its  super- 
vision, what  the  witnesses  and  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
say  and  do  to  those  who  are  likewise  to  enjoy  the 
redemption,  Christ  Himself  attests  by  His  presence. 
On  the  harvest  feast  of  Israel  (the  Pentecost)  Christ 
sends  His  Spirit  upon  all  His  disciples,  of  whom  one 
hundred  and  twenty  were  together  at  Jerusalem.  With 
this  commenced  the  gracious  presence  of  God  on  earth  : 
the  Spirit  is  the  first  gift  of  the  redemption,  and  war- 
rants the  future.  In  the  power  of  this  Spirit  of  the 
presence  of  God's  grace  and  salvation  upon  earth  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  is  now  preached  in  the  whole  w^orld, 
and  in  the  power  of  this  salvation -presence  the  con- 
gregation of  the  redeemed  waits  for  the  coming  of  Him 
who  declares  Himself  to  us,  and  confesses  Him  with 
joy :  Jesus  Christy  the  same  yesterday,  to-day,  and 
forever  I 


251 


XII 

THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

WjK  can  now  understand  the  meaning  of  what  we 
,.  ,1  said  at  the  beginning  of  the  lecflures — that 
i@^l  Christ  appears  in  the  New  Testament  not  as 
subjedl  but  as_obje^^f  jehgion,  of  our 
religion.  Christianity  is  not  the  religion  which  Jesus 
Himself  has  taught,  believed,  pra(5lised,  but  is  the 
religion  which  consists  of  a  personal  relation  of  the 
believer  to  Jesus,  communion  with  Jesus,  and  as  with 
Him  so  also  communion  with  the  Father.  Not  a 
Christianit}^  of  Christ  but  the  Christhood  of  Christ  is 
what  the  New  Testament  gives  us.  Christ  is  offered 
to  the  world  in  the  apostolic  preaching,  Christ  offers 
Himself  in  His  own  preaching.  We  are  to  believe  in 
Christ,  and  in  Him,  moreover,  as  the  crucified  and  risen 
Messiah,  and  we  are  to  have  peace  with  God,  forgive- 
ness of  sins,  strength  for  a  godly  life  and  conversa- 
tion, and  life  eternal  through  our  union  with  Him, 
through  faith  by  believing  in  Him,  not  by  appropriat- 
ing to  ourselves  His  thoughts.  His  knowledge.  His 
faith.  Christ  is  preached,  and  in  His  person,  One  who, 
instead  of  judging  the  world,  rather  Himself  suffered 
and  died,  and  thus  suffered  and  died  for  the  world  that 
it  might  be  spared  from  God's  judgment.  Christ  is 
proclaimed  whom  God  has  raised  up  from  death,  and 
thus  has  justified  ;  Christ  who,  through  the  mercy  of 
God   toward   us,  returned  from  a   death  which  men 

252 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


wreaked  on  Him,  and  thereby  proved  their  whole  un- 
godly and  antigodly  nature.  Christ  returned  not  to 
judge  and  to  punish,  but  to  forgive.  To  the  whole 
world  all  its  sins  are  forgiven,  and  shall  be  forgiven, 
because  all  sins  of  the  world  are  conne(5led  with 
each  other,  and  one  produces  the  other,  and  finally 
meet  in  the  one  great  sin  of  resistance  to  the  Christ 
of  God.  Christ,  the  crucified  and  risen  One,  in  Divine 
power  sends  out  His  disciples  into  all  the  world  to 
preach  repentance  and  forgiveness  of  sins  to  all  nations. 
Christ,  the  crucified  and  risen,  who  died  and  became 
alive  again,  who  died  the  same  death  which  we  die,  who 
was  raised  up  from  this  death  as  we  shall  be  raised, 
now,  however,  becomes  manifest  as  the  Savior.  He 
was  and  is  God,  and  yet  becomes  and  remains  man, 
entirely  man,  wholly  our  brother.  He  will  only  have 
and  use  His  deity  as  our  brother.  He  is  the  tenor  of 
the  Gospel,  This  is  Gospel,  fulfilled  promise — fulfil- 
ment nevertheless  which,  in  accordance  with  the  pecu- 
liarity of  all  prophecies,  far  surpasses  in  brightness 
the  promise  itself,  as  the  prophecy  of  His  suffering 
remains  far  behind  the  reality. 

It  is  well  that  Harnack  has  said,  in  a  sentence  so 
clear,  so  definite,  so  simple  that  the  statement  could 
not  be  bettered,  that  "  Christ  does  not  belong  to  the 
gospel" — i.e.,  the  gospel  according  to  Harnack,  for 
tlie  Gospel  of  Jesus  reconstrucfted  by  him  differs  most 
distindlly  and  most  completely  from  the  Gospel  of  the 
New  Testament.  The  New  Testament  knows  no 
other  Gospel  than  that  whose  tenor  is  Christ,  and  it 
matters  not  whether  Christ  or  the  apostles  proclaim 
it.     Between  these  alternatives  we  mu^t  make  our  de- 

253 


THE   ESSENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

cision.  The  position  of  the  whole  New  Testament  is 
simple  :  Jesus  Christ,  yesterday,  to-day,  and  in  eter- 
nity the  same  !  Christ  not  a  man  who  was^  but  who 
became  alive  again,  who  now  lives  forever,  not  as  we 
continue  to  live  after  death,  and  as  the  saints,  the 
spirits  of  the  righteous  made  perfect  live,  but  who 
now  lives  as  we  shall  some  day  live,  only  that  He  lives 
as  our  brother,  the  first-born  from  the  dead.  Savior 
and  Lord  over  all.  He  lives  and  shall  live,  reigns  and 
shall  reign,  as  King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  all  lords. 

With  this  Jesus  w^ho  came  to  life  again,  a  higher, 
supramundane  power  entered  into  the  closed  order  of 
histor}^  and  commenced  to  interfere  and  shape  it. 
History  is  no  longer  merely  the  story  of  that  which 
men  do  with  each  other  and  against  each  other,  of 
what  they  accomplish  or  do  not  accomplish.  This  is 
still,  indeed,  the  main  tenor  of  history,  and  the 
clearer  and  plainer  historical  inquiry  knows  how  to 
show  this  and  bring  it  to  light,  and  describe  its  devel- 
opment from  the  beginning,  the  more  will  such  inquiry 
in  that  dire(5lion  fulfil  its  own  purpose  and  serve  to 
further  this  development.  But  we  must  not  and  shall 
not  conceal  from  ourselves  that  all  development  strives 
for  its  goal  and  its  end.  What  wisdom  of  this  world 
can  say  what  will  be  the  end  of  development  as  it 
works  in  the  hearts  and  heads  of  men — of  thinkers 
and  wise  men,  of  poets  and  artists,  of  technologists 
and  peasants  !  Yet  this  is  known  to  one — the  Chris- 
tian !  The  end  of  all  is  dust!  But  in  this  develop- 
ment, surrounded  and  opposed  by  it  and  opposing  it, 
since  the  Gospel  is  preached,  a  new  power  has  entered 
— the  Gospel  that  is  Christ.     Christ  and  the  world ; 

254 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

this  is,  since  then,  the  theme  of  all  real  history,  and 
should  be  the  aim  of  all  real  hivStoriography.  Not 
until  our  own  time  did  the  struggle  to  shape  history 
to  philosophical  ends  really  commence.  The  times  of 
rest,  which  come  once  and  again,  are  always  times  for 
the  colledling  of  new  forces  to  carry  on  the  fight 
against  the  Christ  of  God  with  new  energy,  be  it  under 
the  mask  of  friendship  with  the  Gospel,  be  it  as  an 
enemy  with  open  visor.  Christ  attests  Himself  every- 
where, but  is  only  known  and  acknowledged  by  those 
who  believe  and  confess  His  name.  In  and  with  His 
person  He  lives  and  works  and  sues,  whose  throne  is 
the  throne  of  God,  who  sits  at  the  right  hand  of  the 
Father,  w^ho,  like  the  Holy  One  in  Israel,  "dwells  in 
the  high  and  holy  place  with  Him  also  that  is  of  a 
contrite  and  humble  spirit,  to  revive  the  spirit  of 
the  humble,  and  to  revive  the  heart  of  the  contrite 
ones. ' ' 

Or  can  He  not,  then,  do  this  ?  But  what  is  the  meaning 
of  this  fear  which  falls  upon  us  while  old  recollections 
awake?  "Why  do  you  visit  me,  ye  pidlures,  which 
long  ago  I  thought  forgotten  ? ' '  And  the  future  stands 
before  us  dark  and  gruesome,  and  we  have  no  more  eye 
nor  ear  for  an3^thing  else,  perfonning  our  work  mc- 
chanicalh',  while  again  and  again  sounds  on  the  ears 
the  iteration  :  '  *  You  are  lost  !  You  are  lost  !  "  Is  it 
disease,  is  it  imagination,  or  is  it  reality  ?  We  know  : 
this  being  lost  is  reality,  terrible  reality.  We  suffer 
under  a  misgiving  of  everlasting  judgment,  yet  dare 
not  show  to  any  one  our  very  troubled  inner  feeling, 
our  state  of  apprehension.  What  is  that  !  It  is  not 
yet  experience  of  Christ.     It  is  experience  of  the  living 

25.5 


THE   ESSENCE   OF   CHRISTIANITY 

God,  experience  of  His  terrible  severity.  We  know 
that  there  is  a  living  God,  we  feel  Him,  it  is  truth. 

But  where  this  experience  conies — it  comes  not  to 
every  one — it  is  only  the  first  step  of  experience  of 
Christ.  This  is  quite  different.  We  hear  of  Him,  we 
perceive  His  Word,  we  know  His  deeds,  His  history — 
we  hear  Him  !  He  stands  living  before  our  e^^es,  not 
as  a  recolle(5lion  from  childhood,  but  as  One  with 
whom  we  have  to  deal,  man  against  man.  It  is  not 
that  He  was  one  who  concerns  us,  He  is  one — nearer 
than  father  and  mother  and  brother  and  friend.  Since 
He  is  risen  He  lives  before  us,  for  us,  with  us,  as 
soon  as  the  Word  concerning  Him  comes  to  us  and 
demands  our  faith,  our  acknowledgment  of  His  truth. 
Each  declaration  of  His  Word,  or  of  God's  Word,  is 
at  the  same  time  an  attestation  of  His  person.  He 
speaks  not  merely  everlastingly  binding  words  about 
God,  about  the  Father,  about  the  Kingdom  of  God, 
about  the  infinite  worth  of  our  soul,  about  loving  and 
ministering  ;  His  words  have  rather  a  very  peculiar 
power  and  a  special  importance,  because  they  are 
w^ords  of  a  living  One  who  speaks  with  us.  Yes,  He 
speaks  of  God,  but  He  connecfls  the  knowledge  of  God 
with  the  knowledge  of  His  person  ;  He  speaks  of  the 
Father,  but  this  is  His  Father,  and  we  can  become 
children  of  God  only  by  believing  in  the  Son.  He 
speaks  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  but  in  Him  it  is 
present,  and  only  in  Him  have  we  the  blessings  of  the 
Kingdom  :  righteousness,  peace,  and  joy  in  the  Holy 
Spirit.  He  speaks  of  loving  and  ministering,  but  only 
through  faith  in  Him  who  died  for  us.  His  enemies, 
do  we  learn  to  love,  and  can  love  and  serve.     Every- 

256 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

thing  that  He  says  is  connecfled  with  Him.  He  does 
not  merely  invite  us  to  plunge  into  the  rccoUcnioii  of 
Him,  and  thus  through  a  vivid  presentation  of  His 
person  and  the  place  and  time,  have  an  after-experience 
of  what  He  meant  when  He  said  :  "Come  unto  Me,  all 
ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you 
rest "  ;  or,  "  Him  that  cometh  to  me  I  will  in  no  wise 
cast  out  " ;  or,  "I  am  the  light  of  the  world,  the  bread 
of  life,  the  good  shepherd,  the  way,  the  truth,  and  the 
life;  no  one  cometh  unto  the  Father  but  by  Me;  he 
that  beholdeth  Me  beholdeth  Him  that  sent  Me." 
He  lives,  and  His  Word,  which  He  once  spoke,  He 
still  speaks  to  us  to-day.  Therefore,  therefore  only  it 
still  stands  to-day ;  therefore  we  must  decide  either  for 
or  against  Him;  we  must  and  shall  not  merely  believe 
Him,  but  believe  in  Him.  He  is  our  Judge,  and  again 
He  Himself  is  our  Redeemer.  Nothing  humbles  us  so 
low  and  nothing  revives  us  so  certainly  and  gives  us 
such  peace  as  He,  not  merely  with  His  words,  but  by 
His  giving  Himself  to  us.  By  having  Him  we  have 
in  Him,  as  Paul  says,  the  redemption  through  His 
blood,  the  forgiveness  of  our  trespasses.  If  we  do  not 
have  Him  neither  do  we  have  the  forgiveness. 

He  is  not  like  one  of  the  great  ones  of  our  race,  not 
even  the  greatest  of  the  great;  He  is  something  differ- 
ent. Since  He  came,  the  fate  of  every  one  turns  on 
Him,  and  the  fate  of  the  whole  world  will  finally  be 
decided  by  its  relation  to  Him.  He  rouses  all  our  an- 
tipathy, all  our  indignation,  and  He  stills  all  our 
misery  and  all  anxiety,  and  the  unrest  of  our  bad 
conscience,  which  rightly  accuses  us,  yet  which,  how- 
ever,  He  purges.     As  He  lived  and  suffered  by  the 

257 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 


hands  of  men,  so  now  He  lives  and  suffers  by  our 
hands.  Our  sm,  the  sin  of  the  world,  which  forms 
one  great  whole,  He  bore ;  our  sins  He  forgave  and 
forgives.  He  reconciled  us  with  God,  and  obtained 
the  forgiveness  of  God,  and  calls  it  into  our  heart,  so 
that  we  have  it  in  a  reality  exadlly  as  adlual  as  our 
sin  and  guilt,  so  that  we  may  say,  "This  w^not  this 

was — my  sin,  my  guilt,  but  it  is  forgiven  \^ \ 

This  is  what  Paul  calls  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ — not  the  grace  merely  which  He  declares,  but 
the  grace  which  He  administers.  In  this  grace  we 
have,  at  the  same  time,  the  Father,  who  adopted  us 
as  His  children  for  Christ's  sake.  He  is  present  to 
us  with  the  Father  in  His  spirit,  the  Holy  Spirit, 
through  whom  He  testifies  to  us  that  we  are  children 
of  God,  and  who  works  in  us  the  faith,  and  teaches 
us  to  pray  in  faith,  so  that  we  need  never  despair,  but 
shall  remain  in  God's  peace  even  in  persecution.  He 
keeps  us  in  faith,  He  helps  us,  so  that  we  always  have 
our  joy  in  Him,  and  thus  can  overcome  our  sinful 
lust.  We  can  finish  the  course,  fight  out  the  good 
fight,  and  keep  the  faith  and  exercise  love,  and  ad- 
here to  our  hope  even  unto  the  end — all  because  and 
when  we  hold  fast  to  Christ.  If  we  have  Him  whom 
the  fathomless  compassion  of  God  has  for  us  given 
into  death  and  for  us  raised  from  the  dead,  we  are 
born  again  to  a  living  hope  through  this  very  mercy 
of  God  which  gave  Him  back  to  us.  Without  Him, 
hopeless— this  was  our  life  !  All  our  thinking  and 
speaking  and  knowledge  of  the  life  after  death,  or  of 
that  which  is  more  and,  indeed,  different  from  this — 
eternal  life,  of  the  glory  of  the  new  world — help  us 

258 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

just  as  little  as  the  thoughts  which  we  entertain  of 
eternal  life  in  spaceless  and  timeless  existence,  w^hich 
now  already  we  ought  to  have,  and  into  which  we 
should  definitively  pass  as  soon  as  we  have  died.  All 
hope  in  a  final,  everlasting  redemption,  in  attestation 
of  the  power  and  love  of  God  which  is  to  end  all  evil 
— all  hopes  were  gone,  lowered  with  Jesus  into  the 
grave  in  which  He  was  interred.  Now,  however,  all 
hopes  have  become  alive  again  with  Him — living,  ever 
living,  hopes  :  there  is  an  everlasting,  incorruptible, 
and  undefiled  inheritance,  kept  for  us  there  whither 
He  hastened.  Heaven  and  earth,  time  and  eternity, 
past  and  future,  appear  now  quite  different  to  our  eyes, 
for  we  are  reconciled  through  Him  :  our  trespass  is 
forgiven,  and  we  are  God's  pardoned  children.  He, 
yes.  He  is  our  peace  ! 

Not  what  He  taught,  not  His  words  about  the  infinite 
worth  of  a  human  soul,  of  the  indispensable  necessity 
to  do  the  will  of  the  Father  in  heaven,  and  to  walk  in 
that  love  which  hopeth  all  things,  believeth  all  things, 
endureth  all  things;  not  His  words  about  the  King- 
dom of  God  and  the  righteousness  demanded  for  it 
much  better  and  much  more  difficult  than  the  right- 
eousness of  the  scribes  and  Pharisees — not  any  of  these 
is  the  main  thing,  the  principal  thing.  Were  it  the 
principal  thing,  then  we  should  be  worse  off  than  the 
Jews,  than  Israel  with  its  * '  statutory ' '  law,  as  one 
not  having  rightly  conceived  the  meaning  of  the  idea 
law  might  prefer  to  call  it.  If  it  was  already  difficult  to 
fulfil  this  ' '  statutory  ' '  law,  how  much  more  difficult 
is  it  to  keep  the  commandments  of  the  Lord  in  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  thus  to  acquire  the  better 

259 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

righteousness!  Or  can  this  so-called  "deepening" 
of  the  law  facilitate  its  fulfilment  ?  The  I^ord  thinks 
otherwise.  And  then  as  to  the  trust  in  God's  provi- 
dence, which  is  enjoined:  "Behold  the  birds  of  the 
heaven,  the  lilies  of  the  field,"  yes,  "  Be  not  afraid  of 
them  which  kill  the  body  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the 
soul" — who  can  accomplish  this?  Any  one  who  has 
been  given  to  laudations  of  Paul  Gerhardt' s  "  Commit 
thou  thy  ways"  and  "If  God  be  on  my  side" 
should  reasonably  also  know  the  connedlion  between 
these  and  his  songs  of  the  passion:  "A  Lamb  goes 
uncomplaining  forth, "  the  "  Seven  hymns  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Lord  Jesus,"  from  the  Latin  of  Saint 
Bernard,  or  the  hymn,  "  O  world,  see,  here  thy  Ufe!  " 
Or  is  there  a  connedlion  only  in  the  notion  of  Paul 
Gerhardt  ?  Only  he  can  trust  in  God,  be  sure  of  His 
providence  and  His  guidance  and  His  care,  even  in 
the  hardest  ways  and  in  the  darkest  hours,  who  is 
reconciled  with  God,  has  God's  mercy,  has  forgiveness 
of  sins.  Who  has  forgiveness?  Forgiveness  is  a  deed 
of  God.  Where,  when  did  this  deed  of  God  happen  ? 
Only  in  Christ's  death  and  resurredlion  ?  But  this, 
says  one,  is  too  spedlacular;  the  relation  of  God  to  the 
world  is  not  effedluated  in  a  drama,  and  it  is  no  drama. 
Why  not  ?  If  the  natural  relation  of  the  world  to  God 
is  a  drama  with  a  tragic  ending,  why  may  not  the 
supernatural  relation  of  God  to  the  world  be  a  drama 
with  the  glorious  finale  of  the  resurredlion  of  Jesus 
Christ  and  of  eternal  Ufe?  If  God,  the  timeless  and 
spaceless  One,  should  rule  the  world  only  in  accord- 
ance with  the  eternal  law,  eternally  established  by  Him, 
and  according  to  this  law  once  for  all  provide  for  its 

260 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

ongoing,  would  not  the  brute  forces  of  the  world-order 
of  nature  and  history  crush  us  ?  Can  God  not  adl  ?  And 
is  not  this  the  greatness  of  His  manifestation,  His  self- 
attestation  in  favor  of  us  sinners,  that  according  to 
His  own  eternal  counsel  He  draws  near  in  time  to  us, 
who  were  not  created  as  sinners  but  became  sinners  in 
time,  and  a(5ls  for  us  and  redeems  us  ?  Let  us  by  no 
means  through  any  pale  fear  of  a  drama  brought  about 
in  time,  but  intended  for  eternity,  lose  the  facft  of  the 
reconciliation  and  redemption  performed  through  Christ 
w^ith  a  love  that  is  timeless,  eternal,  forever  the  same, 
everlastingly  transcendent!  Or  ought  Christ  to  have 
come  only  to  reveal  to  the  world  that  the  God  whom 
it  seeks  in  all  religions  and  does  not  find  is  a  God  who 
forever  evinces  Himself  to  it  with  purely  pardoning 
forbearance,  friendliness,  patience,  and  love,  and  whose 
love  it  knew  not  till  Christ  came,  but  now,  as  revealed 
in  Him,  it  must  recognize  as  the  solution  of  the  mys- 
tery— of  the  problem  of  its  existence  ?  Then  the  testi- 
mony of  our  conscience,  our  consciousness  of  guilt 
under  God's  judgment,  were  a  false  testimony,  and  the 
man  who  in  the  New  Testament  still  admonishes  his 
readers  that  ' '  our  God  is  a  consuming  fire  ' '  was 
wrong. 

No,  there  is  nothing  more  wondrous,  nothing  less  self- 
understood,  nothing  more  paradoxical,  more  opposed 
to  all  which  is  logically  and  morally  consistent  than 
the  reconciliation,  redemption,  forgiveness  of  all  our 
sins,  the  a(5lual,  Divine  forgiveness,  imputation  of  sins 
and  yet  forgive?iess  !  Here  are  two  entirely  different 
religions,  opposed  to  one  another  and  mutually  exclud- 
ing each  other.     One,  as  with  Christ  Himself,  connecfls 

261 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

forgiveness  with  His  death  and  resurredlion  ;  in  the 
other  one,  jfimself  forgives  the  sin.  There  are  rehg- 
ions  excluding  each  other,  of  which  the  one  is  truly 
religion,  the  other  only  religion  so-called.  The  one 
mentions  the  most  urgent  and  permanent  interest  in  the 
person  and  w^ork  of  Christ,  in  whom  it  believes  and  to 
whom  it  prays  ;  the  other  roundly  declares,  with  Har- 
nack,  that  Jesus  does  not  belong  to  the  Gospel. 

But  how  is  it  possible  that  our  pardon,  the  forgive- 
ness of  our  sins,  depends  on  one  deed,  on  one  event, 
one  happening  of  the  past,  in  which,  as  it  is  said,  we 
were  not  participants  ourselves  ?  That  it  depends  on 
this  deed  of  the  past  is  evident  to  every  one  who  for 
the  sake  of  the  suffering  and  dying  of  Christ  has 
sought  and  found  forgiveness,  to  every  one  who,  be- 
cause of  his  sins,  for  the  sake  of  their  forgiveness, 
believes  in  Jesus,  and  whom  his  sins  have  brought  to 
the  feet  of  Jesus.  One  does  not  understand  it,  but 
one  has  it ;  one  would  lose  everything  if  it  were  not 
true  ;  yes,  one  would  in  very  facft  lose  everything  if  we 
had  no  need  to  seek  the  forgiveness  of  the  crucified 
One  on  account  of  our  sins  ;  for  the  easier  the  forgive- 
ness the  less  heavy  our  sin  and  guilt,  the  less  also 
our  interest  in  Christ,  our  interest  in  God.  There 
is  left,  indeed,  an  interest  in  polemics  against  the 
Christianity  through  which  w^e  seek  and  find  forgive- 
ness by  Jesus,  but  this  interest,  too,  at  length  will  dis- 
appear. On  the  other  hand,  as  soon  as  we  have  found 
forgiveness  in  the  blood  of  Christ  and  with  it  Christ 
the  Savior,  the  foregoing  questions  come  up  again  and 
demand  answers,  without,  indeed,  making  the  fa(5l 
dependent  on  the  necessity,  or  absolute  correctness,  or 

262 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

fulness  of  the  answers.  For  it  is  everywhere  true  that 
the  facls  must  first  be  acknowledged  before  one  under- 
stand them  or  know  to  establish  and  combine  them, 
and  that  one  will  accept  the  facls  only  when  they 
have  been  understood.  The  understanding,  however, 
of  the  truth  with  which  Ave  are  concerned  here — 
namely,  how  our  eternal  state  can  be  dependent  on  a 
fadl  of  the  past — is  not  very  difficult.  The  question  is 
expressed  intentionally  thus,  and  not  as  Lessing  has 
formulated  it:  how  our  eternity  can  be  dependent  on 
the  acknozvledgmcnt  of  a  casual  historical  fact.  The 
question  as  we  put  it  is  more  comprehensive,  more  seri- 
ous, and  3'et  easier  to  answer  than  the  other,  which, 
properly  speaking,  is  not  to  be  answered  at  all,  because 
no  one  asserts  such  a  thing.  That  facfts  of  the  past 
which  lie  far  behind  us  can  influence  our  eternal  destiny 
is  manifest  to  him  to  v/hom  sin  is  not  a  mere  result  of 
the  growth  of  humanity  out  of  the  dark,  natural  ground 
of  unconscious  existence,  but  a  result  of  the  fall,  and 
who,  with  Paul,  bewails  his  sinfulness,  his  carnal  man- 
ner, and  knows  that  he  does  sin  because  of  his  sinful- 
ness and  that  he  is  a  child  of  perdition.  But  this  refer- 
ence to  the  sin  and  guilt  of  the  first  created  man,  which 
became  fatal  to  the  whole  race,  Harnack,  and  many 
with  him,  would  not  admit,  because  they  know  as  his- 
tory onl}^  the  rising  culture  of  the  human  race.  More- 
over, this  question  of  the  inference  of  a  past  fa<5l  is  not 
yet  answered  at  all  with  reference  to  the  inquiry  how 
that  w^hich  happened  to  Christ  is  connedled  with  any 
pardon.  For,  altho  sin  is  inherited  so  that  only  flesh 
is  born  of  flesh,  what  business  have  we  to  claim  a  part 
in  the  grace  which  is  manifested  in  this  one  ?     And 

263 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

even  if  the  death  of  Christ  had  concerned  the  entire 
race  belonging  to  that  time,  how  is  it  that  it  also  con- 
cerns us  and  every  man  who  comes  into  the  world  ? 

It  was  God  w^ho  in  Christ  reconciled  the  world  to 
Himself.  God — not  the  thought  of  God  but  God  Him- 
self— entered,  in  Christ,  into  the  ordered  course  of  his- 
tory after  He  had  allowed  the  world  till  then  to  go 
for  centuries  and  millenniums  its  own  way,  and  only 
endured  it  that  it  might  not  perish  before  the  time. 
It  was  God  who,  in  pardoning  grace,  established  Him- 
self in  the  world,  who  in  His  eternal  Son  became  pres- 
ent to  the  world,  and  since  then  has  remained  present. 
God  in  Christ  has  endured  that  the  world  should  rejedl 
Him,  and  endured  it  in  order  to  forgive  ;  and  thus  He 
showed  that  His  love  covers  also  a  multitude  of  sins. 
But  what  God  did  by  uniting  Himself  with  us  in  His 
Son,  He  did  to  the  end  that  this  union  and  communion 
might  remain  forever.  This  is  the  one  side.  The 
other,  however,  is  this  :  that  humanity,  with  all  its 
sinful  nature,  aimed  at  nothing  else  than  to  be  agaijist 
God  and  without  God,  its  own  God  and  lyord.  All 
this  reached  its  climax  in  the  rejedlion  of  Christ,  and 
thus  Christ  took  upon  Himself  the  sins  of  all  the 
world  which  till  then  had  existed.  But  by  living 
now  and  on  and  on,  attesting  and  proving  Himself  as 
our  Redeemer  and  Savior,  He  has  to  deal  ever  and 
ever  with  the  same  sinful  world,  whose  sins  He  suffered 
and  bore.  Our  sin  is  not  only  a  similar  sin,  it  is  a  con- 
tinuation of  the  sa7ne  sin.  Whether  we  make  our- 
selves guilty  of  the  same  consciously  or  unconsciously, 
we  can  not  get  rid  nor  be  released  from  the  conne(5lion 
made  necessary  by  the  very  nature    of  sin,   so  that 

264 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

Christ  bore  our  sin  and  our  guilt  also — the  sin  and 
guilt  of  the  entire  humanity.  And  so  He,  the  living 
One,  who  died  through  our  sin  and  was  raised  up 
through  and  for  the  forgiving  grace,  comes  to  us  and 
attests  to  us  that  our  sin — my  sin — has  brought  Him 
into  death,  and  was  borne  by  Him,  and  that  He  brings 
forgiveness  of  our  sins,  of  my  sins,  and  that  He  is  our 
reconciliation,  and  says  to  us:  "You  are  [not  you 
shall  be]  redeemed.     Ye  were  bought  with  a  price  !  ** 

Thus  He  forgave  our  sins  of  to-day  when  He  asked 
the  Father  to  forgive  the  sins  of  His  murderers : 
' '  Father,  forgive  them,  for  they  know  not  what  they 
do."  As  our  sin  of  to-day  weighed  on  Him  with  the 
sin  of  them  and  with  the  sin  of  the  whole  past  world, 
so  from  the  Cross  the  stream  of  forgiveness  runs 
through  the  world,  and  one  brother  may  tell  it  and  so 
attest  it  to  the  other,  so  that  he  also  can  believe  if  he 
only  will,  that  in  Christ  we  have  the  redemption 
through  His  blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of  sins.  God 
forgave  our  sins  when  Christ  suffered  and  died  and 
rose  again,  and  therefore  He  forgives  them  to-day  to 
every  one  who  believes  in  the  crucified  and  risen  One, 
acknowledges  Him  as  the  Messiah  of  God,  and  there- 
fore as  our  Redeemer.  He  feeds  upon  this  salvation 
and  lives  in  it,  and  says  :  ''  Now,  that  which  Thou,  O 
Lord,  didst  bear  is  all  my  burden  !  Thou  takest  upon 
Thy  back  the  burdens  which  press  me  down,  Thou 
bearest  my  guilt ;  Thou  becomest  a  curse,  in  return 
Thou  givest  me  Thy  blessing  and  placest  me  into 
God's  fatherly  kindness  !  " 

No  one,  as  yet  to  this  day,  and  least  of  all  Dr.  Har- 
nack,  has  more  clearly  expressed  the  essence  of  Chris- 

265 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

tianity  than  it  is  expressed  in  the  prayers  and  hymns 
of  the  Church,  and  more  especially  in  the  passion 
hymns.  Christianity,  which  God  consents  to  offer  to 
the  world,  is  the  forgiveness  of  sins  in  the  blood  of 
Christ,  the  justification  of  the  sinner  in  the  power  of 
the  death  and  resurredlion  of  Christ,  the  redemption 
of  the  world  through  Christ's  death  and  resurreclion, 
the  everlasting  grace  of  God  in  the  giving  of  His  Son, 
of  which  Jesus  says  :  * '  For  God  so  loved  the  world 
that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whosoever 
believeth  in  Him  should  not  perish,  but  have  eternal 
life. ' '  Of  this  says  John  :  * '  Herein  was  the  love  of 
God  manifested  in  us,  that  God  hath  sent  His  only 
begotten  Son  into  the  world  to  be  the  propitiation  for 
our  sins ' '  ;  and  Paul :  ' '  God  commendeth  His  own 
love  toward  us,  in  that,  while  we  were  yet  sinners, 
Christ  died  for  us  "  ;  and  Peter  :  * '  Knowing  that  ye 
w^ere  redeemed,  not  with  corruptible  things,  with  sil- 
ver or  gold,  from  your  vain  manner  of  life  handed 
down  from  your  fathers,  but  with  precious  blood,  as 
of  a  lamb  without  blemish  and  without  spot,  even  the 
blood  of  Christ,  who  was  foreknown  indeed  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  but  was  manifested  at  the 
end  of  the  times. ' '  This  unanimous  testimony  of  Jesus 
and  of  His  apostles  the  historian  and  dogmatician 
may  indeed  rejedl  as  far  as  the  contents  are  concerned, 
but  he  can  not  contest  the  fadl  that  it  is  the  testimony 
of  Jesus  and  of  His  disciples,  and  still  less  that  it  still 
works  to-day  what  it  worked  when  it  commenced  to 
be  proclaimed. 

On  this  account  the  Christianity  which  we  have  and 
should  pradlise  can  only  consist  in  the  grateful  accept- 

266 


THE  KSSKNCH  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

ance  of  the  reconciliation,  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins 
in  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  in  the  life,  struggle,  and 
work,  the  loving,  ministering,  and  suffering,  the  hoping 
and  waiting  in  the  power  of  His  grace.  This  and 
nothing  else  can  and  shall  be  the  Christianity  for  all 
times.  Whether  we  have  it  and  pra(5lise  it,  whether 
we  keep  it  pure — yes,  whether  we  even  keep  the 
knowledge  of  it  pure — is  another  question.  Whatever 
Christianity  was  when  it  was  proclaimed  to  the  world, 
and  whatever  it  is  and  shall  be  unto  the  end  of  days, 
whether  men  accept  it  or  not,  the  opinion  on  it  must 
be  governed  by  what  men  have  made  of  it — the  nations 
as  well  as  the  theologians.  But  since  the  basis  of  Har- 
nack's  docftrine — the  answer  to  the  question.  What 
Christianity  is  in  the  sense  of  Christ  and  of  His  dis- 
ciples— is  so  poor,  his  understanding  of  the  resultant 
question — What  the  Church  has  made  of  it — becomes 
the  poorer,  and  his  whole  attempt  as  a  historian  to 
sublimate  the  essence  of  Christianity  from  the  histor- 
ical appearance  of  the  Church  must  be  designated  as 
wrong.  It  is  the  more  preposterous  since,  just  as  in 
the  Christian  his  Christianity  and  the  testimony  of  his 
life  very  slightly  coincide,  so,  also,  in  the  Church  the 
essence  and  appearance  of  Church,  and,  therefore,  the 
essence  and  appearance  of  Christianity,  never  coincide. 
Twice,  perhaps,  do  they  coincide — at  the  beginning 
and  at  the  end  of  history.  But  how  early  the  struggle 
with  sin,  and  therefore  of  sin  against  Christianity, 
commenced,  and  what  intensity  it  can  still  assume,  the 
A(5ls  of  the  Apostles  and  the  Apostolic  Epistles  show. 
On  this  account  we  must  make  clear  and  ever  clearer  to 
ourselves  what  the  essence  of  Christianity  is;  we  must, 

2Ö7 


THE  ESSENCE  OF  CHRISTIANITY 

therefore,  historically  and  dogmatically,  if  we  must  call 
it  so,  go  back  to  the  beginning — not,  however,  make 
history  a  judge  between  the  transient  and  the  lasting, 
as  Strauss  in  his  time  endeavored  to  do,  and  as  Har- 
nack  in  his  manner  has  now  also  endeavored. 

It  would  be  profitable  to  enter  into  Harnack's  his- 
torical pi(5lure  and  to  estimate  and  corre(5l  it.  But  for 
the  present  we  must  postpone  this  task,  and  shall  now 
only  present  to  ourselves  two  things.  One  is,  that  the 
knowledge  of  Christianity,  the  understanding  of  the 
Gospel  as  the  offering  of  the  real,  present,  existing 
gift  of  God,  was  lost  in  conne(5lion  with  the  missionary 
problem  of  the  Church  and  the  education  of  the 
nations,  altho  the  longing  for  it  remained  alive  here 
and  there,  and  the  faith,  tho  troubled,  sought  for 
itself  a  place  and  sometimes  found  it,  till  God,  in  the 
hour  of  greatest  need,  raised  up  His  servant  I^uther, 
who  declared  unto  us  again  the  Gospel  of  a  present 
grace  experienced  by  him  of  the  Son  of  God  who  died 
and  rose  for  us.  The  other  is  a  word  coming  from 
Harnack  himself  :  ' '  How  often  in  history  is  theology 
only  the  means  to  set  aside  religion!"  Of  Jesus, 
however,  it  is  true  that  He  alone  and  truly  has  made 
religion  possible  to  us,  for  in  Him  we  have  a  free,  open 
access  unto  the  Father  through  His  blood,  through 
the  forgiveness  of  sins  ! 


Date  Due 

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